REVELATIONS
by kinoa
Summary: Ortiz from Salvadoran gang in DC has his revenge on Brennan. Brennan realizes she still has more to learn and with Sweets help she makes that final step with Booth.
1. Chapter 1

**REVELATIONS**

Chapter 1

**Jeffersonian: Friday 8 AM**

Dr. Brennan's cell phone rang while she was getting her first cup of coffee for the morning.

"Dr. Brennan."

"Temperance, this is Diana. I have you booked in for a book signing session at the Walden Book store at the Capitol Mall at 6 o'clock next week Friday."

"Booth isn't going to like me going over there Diana."

"Why?"

"We had a case over there in the Salvadoran neighborhood and I had a run in with the local gang leader at the FBI building a couple of years ago."

"What happened?"

"He put his hand on me and I explained why that wasn't a good idea. He didn't like what I did and he tried to take a swing at me. So I put him down."

"Your something else Brennan, I can get a body guard for you but you still have to go to the book signing. I'm sorry but it's in our contract with the company."

Brennan thought about it. "Okay, I guess if I have to then I'll be there. Have the guard meet me at the Jeffersonian at 5. Good bye." Brennan didn't wait for a reply and closed her phone and put it in her pocket. She debated with herself as to whether she should tell Booth or not.

Brennan looked up when she heard a knock on her office door. It was her partner, Booth.

"Hey Bones. I just stopped by on my way to work to see if you had your part of the report for the Clark case." Booth said as he went over and pulled out the cup that Brennan had given him to use when he was in her office.

"I just have a few things to add to it and I'll be able to turn it over to you. Are you hungry for breakfast or have you had something already?"

"No, I haven't had anything but I'm starving. How about I go and get something from the cafeteria while you gather the report together?"

"That sounds good to me. Get me some orange juice and an English Muffin with an egg on it please."

"Your very wish is my command my Lady." Booth said with a bow then left before she could throw something at him.

Brennan sat down to start to print out her report and call the others for their part of the report. As Booth walked in with their breakfast Hodgins, Angela and Cam walked into her office with their reports and their breakfasts also.

"The rest of us were in the cafeteria when Booth walked in to get your breakfast so we thought we would join you." Hodgins said as he handed her his report and went over to the couch with his and Angela's breakfast. Both Angela and Cam gave her their report as well then went to sit down. Before joining them Brennan put everyone's report in the folder with hers and left it on her desk for Booth when he left.

"If you all aren't doing anything this weekend I would like to invite you over to my place for the whole weekend." Hodgins said after eating his breakfast.

"The whole weekend? Saturday and Sunday?" Booth asked.

"Yeah, bring your swim suits and pajamas if you wear them. It will be just us and I'm going to ask Sweets to come also. You can get as drunk as you want and you won't have to worry about driving home. We'll be having a Bar B Q on Saturday and Sunday we can nurse our hangovers until the big game starts."

"Well you can count me in." Booth said.

Brennan and Cam raised their hand also and said at the same time "Me too."

After Booth was finished with his breakfast he got up. "I have to leave you inmates of the Jeffersonian now so I can hand this report in. I'll see you tomorrow at Hodgins. What time will you be firing up the grill?"

"Come on over anytime after 12 noon." Hodgins said as he got up also. He pulled his cell phone out and called Sweets to invite him to his place as he walked down to the Lab.

"Dr. Sweets speaking."

"Hi Sweets, this is Hodgins over at the Jeffersonian. I wanted to invite you over to my place this weekend for a Bar B Q and a sleepover. You can get as drunk as you want and not have to worry about how you're going to get home."

"I have just 2 questions. Who else is coming and can we bring a date?"

"Dr. Brennan, Dr. Saroyan and Booth are coming over. No dates though. I want everyone to be able to relax with their fellow workers, talk shop if you want and not have to worry about what we're saying and who is listening. Are you coming?" Hodgins knew Sweets was going to jump at the chance to be with them.

"Yes I would love to come. What time should I be there?"

"Come any time after 12, and bring your swimming trunks. I'll send you an E-Mail with directions to my house in a few minutes. See you tomorrow." Hodgins put away his cell phone and let everyone else know that Sweets was going to be joining them tomorrow. The rest of the day went by uneventfully, which everyone was happy about. A day without a case meant they could all catch up on paperwork and other projects that they were working on.

The next day they all arrived at Hodgins family Estate between 12 and 1:30. Booth arrived at 1:00. Hodgins butler let him in and showed him over to the back of the house where everyone else was.

Hodgins had been sitting by the side of the pool when he spotted Booth.

"Over here Booth." Hodgins yelled. Booth had been watching Brennan, Cam and Angela in the pool. He couldn't see anything more than their heads since they were on the deep side of the pool.

"I see the women have already started to let their hair down." Booth said as he came over and sat next to Hodgins at one of the chairs. Hodgins was already in his swimming trunks and a light shirt. It was very warm and he was anxious to get his own clothes off. He had his swim trunks on underneath his pants but he thought he would be polite and sit down and talk with his host first.

"You want a beer?" Hodgins asked as he stood up.

"Yeah, what do you have?"

"You name it."

"How about a Michelob Dry if you have it?" Booth said as he leaned back and put his sunglasses on. Hodgins went over to the outdoor kitchen and pulled a bottle of Michelob Dry out of the refrigerator and gave it to Booth then sat down again.

Brennan finally noticed Booth. "Come on Booth get rid of the clothes and join us. We want to play a game of Water Volley Ball."

"Wait until Sweets gets here." Hodgins yelled back.

Just as he said that Sweets appeared at the door. Sweets was busy looking around at everything.

"Wow Hodgins, this is a very nice place." Sweets said.

"Thanks. Why don't you guys go and get changed. The women want to play a game of Water Volley Ball."

Hodgins got up with his bottle of beer in his hand. "Come on and I'll show you your rooms."

Booth took his bottle of beer with him and picked up a duffel bag that he had left by the door. They all followed Hodgins up the stairs and to their rooms. Ten minutes later Booth was back on the patio with his swimming trunks on and a towel draped over his shoulder. Everyone turned and looked at him.

Brennan was the first one to start laughing. They all started laughing when they looked where she was looking. Booth knew this would happen so he just put the towel down on the lounge chair and turned around as though he was a model. He had worn trunks with a clown face printed on the back and the front. The clowns big red nose was placed right smack dab in the middle of the front of the trunks.

"It's you Booth, it's totally you." Brennan said as she continued to laugh.

Booth took his sandals off and made a running jump into the pool. Hodgins had already brought the volley ball net out and had it across the pool. Within the next second Sweets dived into the pool also.

"Okay, shall we play men against the women or mix it up?" Hodgins asked.

"We women are going to show you who's the best." Cam yelled. Brennan and Angela gave out a Whoop! Whoop!

"Okay it's your funeral." Hodgins said. Hodgins moved to the back and Booth and Sweets took the front by the net. Cam stood to the back and Angela and Brennan took the front by the net.

Hodgins served. Playing together, Cam hit the ball to Angela and she set it up for Brennan who slapped it down on the men's side of the net.

By working together the women beat the men while the men were constantly arguing as to who should have handed the ball to who. The ladies got out of the pool, while the men were still arguing and took seats on the lounge chairs.

Angela went over to the side of the pool after a few minutes and said "When are you going to start the grill up Jack? We're getting hungry."

Hodgins swam to the steps at the shallow end of the pool and grabbed his towel. He went over to the grill and started it up. The patio had an outdoor kitchen, which included a refrigerator big enough to hold all of the hamburger meat that had been previously prepared by his cook. He also pulled out a couple of Garden Burgers for Brennan. The outdoor kitchen also included a deep fryer so he pulled out a large bowl of French Fries to add once the oil was hot.

"Hey Angela, would you go in and get the platter of lettuce, onions and tomatoes?" Hodgins asked.

"Sure, I'll be right back." Just as Angela was about to go to the kitchen the cook brought a platter filled with the needed items along with a platter of different types of pickles.

"Thank you Mrs. Davis." Angela said as she took the platters from her.

Within the next 15 minutes everyone was sitting down at the table for lunch. Angela and Brennan noticed how much beer Booth and Hodgins were drinking.

"Who do you think will pass out first?" Angela asked Brennan.

"My money's on Hodgins." Brennan said. "He's been drinking longer than Booth."

"Yes, I think so too." Angela said.

"Plus Booth is a lot bigger than Hodgins." Cam added.

"What are you women whispering about?" Booth asked.

With a twinkle in her eye Brennan said "We were just measuring up all of you men and comparing your individual attributes." Brennan turned and winked at the other women.

That got the men's full attention. Sweets knew that he couldn't even be considered in the same circle as Booth and Hodgins. He was tall and thin and had absolutely no muscles what so ever.

Booth was thinking that he would easily win over Sweets. Now Hodgins was another matter altogether. Hodgins was shorter than him but well muscled and smart.

"Who's winning?" Hodgins asked.

The women joined their heads again for a moment.

"We voted and it was unanimous. Booth is the winner." Cam said.

Hodgins and Sweets looked at Booth. He had the biggest grin on his face Sweets had ever seen. Booth stood up and started to beat his chest and gave out a loud Tarzan yell.

Hodgins had just 3 words for him. "Can it Tarzan."

For the rest of the day Hodgins competed with Booth in everything. The only thing that he came even close to winning was Pool. As the evening wore on it started to get colder and everyone changed into something warmer. Hodgins started up a fire in the fire pit in the corner of the patio and brought out marshmallows and metal rods with forks on the ends to toast them on. The butler brought out carafes of coffee and cups for everyone.

"What are these for?" Brennan asked Hodgins as he handed out the metal rods.

"You use these to toast the marshmallows." Hodgins answered.

"Haven't you ever toasted marshmallows over a fire pit Bones?" Booth asked her.

"I don't think so; at least I don't remember doing it."

"Let me show you." Booth said as he took his own marshmallow roasting fork and placed a marshmallow on the end and placed it near the fire.

Brennan did the same and proceeded to roast her first marshmallow.

"What is the purpose of this, besides having a burnt marshmallow to eat?" Everyone looked at her.

"The purpose is to have fun in talking to everyone and start to relax before going to bed. It's a traditional end to a fun day with your friends." Booth patiently explained. He had, had to explain things like this to her many times before and didn't think anything of it. He had learned a long time ago that Brennan had very little exposure to the simple fun things in life such as roasting marshmallows over an open fire.

"We have to get you to go out more often Brennan." Angela said as she roasted her second marshmallow. "If you had gone out with me when I invited you to a picnic at the beach when we were in collage you would have had fun along with the rest us. You would have learned how to roast marshmallows and have sex with someone when you got too drunk to know what you were doing."

"Yes I would have but then I would have also been worried about whether or not I contracted some STD or HIV like you did several times during those years." Brennan answered as she inspected her handiwork. She judged it to be ready for consumption and took a careful bite of the marshmallow.

"Be careful, they tend to be hot in the middle." Booth said when he saw her starting to take a bite without waiting for a minute or even blowing on it first.

Brennan took his warning seriously and carefully blew on the marshmallow then proceeded to take a smile bite. "Mmmm that's good. No wonder you like doing this." She quickly ate the rest of the marshmallow and stuck another one on the end of the rod. By the time the rest started going into the house Brennan had eaten at least 10 marshmallows.

"Come on Sweetie, it's getting cold out here." Angela said as she took the pitch fork, as she referred to the metal rod, away from Brennan.

"Yeah I guess I should stop or I'll make myself sick." Brennan said as she started to lick her fingers clean.

"I swear Temperance, if I didn't know better I would think you were pregnant."

Dr. Brennan stopped and looked at her friend with a smile. Angela stopped also and looked at her friend. "Oh my God, don't tell me that you finally used Booths frozen sperm."

"Last month. I haven't checked yet to see if I am or not but my period is late. Tonight was the first time that I've showed any symptoms at all. When I was eating those marshmallows Angela, I felt like I couldn't eat enough of them. I started craving them so badly."

Angela grabbed onto Brennan and hugged her. "I'm so happy for you. I know you must be pregnant. We have to go and get you a pregnancy test so you can check tomorrow morning. Are you going to tell Booth?"

"No, not yet. Besides this is my baby." Brennan turned serious all of a sudden.

"You know Temperance, sometimes I just want to slap you silly to try and get you to see what everyone else sees. You are in love with Seeley Booth and he is in love with you. If you don't tell him about this baby I am going to sock you right in the nose." Angela turned from her friend and went back into the house. Brennan could tell Angela was mad at her. She thought about the pregnancy test she had brought with her.

Before Angela could go into the house Brennan called to her. "Angela." Angela turned and looked at Brennan. "Would you ask Sweets to come out here, please?" When Brennan saw the look on her face she added "Only him Angela." Angela smiled and went in. Brennan turned and reached for a couple more logs to put on the fire. She sat back down then and waited for Sweets.

TBC….


	2. Chapter 2

Just to let everyone know, I've completed the story up to chapter 8 and I am working on that now. As I proof read the chapters I will post them, so you'll see them posted rather fast. Also, for those that live in the DC area, you may wonder where the locations are that I have in my story. Stop wondering because I've never been there. The locations are pure fiction. I hope you all enjoy the story. As always, please R&R.

**REVELATIONS**

Chapter 2

Sweets came over to Dr. Brennan. "Angela said you wanted to see me."

"Yes, can you sit down for a few minutes? I need to ask you a question and I didn't want anyone else to hear us." Brennan said as she played with the logs she had just placed in the fireplace.

Sweets saw how serious Dr. Brennan was. He sat down next to her and waited for her to speak.

"Okay I admit that I do love Booth, but for some reason I am afraid to admit it and pursue a more personnel relationship with him. Why do you think I am so reluctant to commit myself to him? Why am I so afraid?"

Sweets, was surprised by her question. It was a typical, to the point, Brennan question. "You're afraid because you would have to give up control of your life. When we enter into a relationship with someone we take a chance with our love and the course of our life. This is a very serious life altering move for you. You would let yourself become vulnerable again and that's one position that you never want to put yourself into again. When you were a child you were hurt because the people that you loved most hurt you by abandoning you. They abandoned you and left you to the foster care system where you were abused.

"Dr. Brennan, you are afraid that if you let yourself love someone again that you will open yourself to that same pain again. You are afraid that sooner or later they will stop loving you and leave you like your parents did. To you, that means that someone else will have control of you again and that scares you more than anything else."

Brennan leaned back in her chair and stared into the fire. "Do you think that is the reason why I wanted a baby? Because with a baby I would still have complete control of my life and have someone that would love me unconditionally and never abandon me."

"Yes, that is part of the reason. You chose Booth to help you create a baby because you do love him, but because you are afraid to lose control of your life the logical part of your mind was able to look at it scientifically.

Problem wanted someone to love.

Problem 2. You wanted someone to love you unconditionally and never leave you.

Problem 3. You want Booth to be that someone and even though he wouldn't be with you, it would still be like having him with you.

Solution to problem 1, 2 and 3: create your own child that would never leave you. Physically they would eventually go out on their own, but emotionally they would still be attached to you and would always come back to you.

Because you love Booth he was the first one to come into your mind. You categorized his attributes and you were able to convince yourself that, that was why you wanted him to father your baby. In other words you would be able to have a part of Booth but not run the danger of him ever leaving you and losing all of him. If you separated, part of him would still be a part of your life." Sweets sat back in his chair and waited for Brennan to say something. He watched her carefully and waited for some kind of reaction.

Without either one of them noticing, Booth stood close by listening.

After a long moment of silence Brennan finally gave Sweets the reaction that he was hoping for. "I think your right Sweets, I am afraid. I've always been afraid of carrying a relationship too far. It's part of why I wouldn't commit to Sully. But basically I said no to Sully because I knew that I loved Booth. With Booth I can have the man I love and still continue to do the work that I love. If I could get over this paralyzing fear I know that I could have a good life with him. I've always felt that I could always overcome any obstacle but for some reason I can't overcome this one big wall that stands between me and a happy life with Booth." Brennan wiped her tears away with the back of her hand.

In the back of them Booth stood along with Angela, who had joined him just a few minutes ago. When Booth started to go to Brennan Angela stopped him and told him to go back into the house. He did as she said without saying anything.

"Dr. Brennan, when we fall in love with someone we are all taking a chance. We take a chance that the other person loves us as much as we love them. We take a chance that we will stay in love with each other and grow old together. We take a chance that our children will be healthy and not die earlier than they should. As Booth would say, it's all a crap shoot; it's a game of chance. No one else knows this but I have proposed to Daisy and she has accepted. Both Daisy and I are putting our chips on the table and taking a chance with each other. Throw your chips on the table Dr. Brennan and take a chance because life with someone you love is worth it. Booth is a man of honor and will not disappoint you."

Sweets sat back in his chair and waited for a response from Dr. Brennan. He could see the tears falling down the side of her face as they sparkled in the fire light.

"Would you like me to help you through this Dr. Brennan?"

Brennan looked at Sweets. "Yes, I want a life with Booth but I have to overcome this fear first and I don't understand why I can't reason my way through this."

"Is it alright if I talk to your father?"

"Yes, go ahead. I have to tell you something also. I used Booth's sperm deposit last month. I have an appointment with my Doctor on Monday to see if I'm pregnant or not. I also brought a home pregnancy test with me and I was going to use it tomorrow morning. I am pretty sure though that I am pregnant. Please don't tell anyone though. Angela is the only one that knows right now and I want to keep it that way until my Doctor confirms it."

"Okay Dr. Brennan, it will fall under the Doctor-Patient category. I think I'll go back in now it's getting a little chilly for me." Sweets got up and walked back into the house where everyone was gathered around the pool table. Booth looked up at Sweets when he came in. Jack was just about to take his turn.

Sweets knew he was going to ask him what was going on but he deflected his question by asking "Who's winning?"

"Well Booth has finally let me take a turn at the table but he's already pocketed most of the balls." Jack said as he prepared to make his shot. Everyone was quiet as he lined up his shot. All eyes were on the white ball as it hit its target ball and it went into the pocket. Hodgins quickly put the last 2 balls into the pocket. Even though he had pocketed the rest of the balls he still didn't have enough points to win.

"Okay since I won I'll be bringing Parker over with 15 or 20 kids for his birthday party. I'll bring the cake and the food. His birthday is July 12th which falls on a Saturday this year." Booth said as he put his stick away on the wall rack. He went over to Hodgins and put his hand on his shoulder. "Secure the hatches and put all of the valuables away because it's going to be like a tornado is going through here." He turned and walked away leaving the sound of an evil laugh echoing in the large room.

Brennan was just walking in when Booth came out of the pool room.

"I heard you taking advantage of Jack. Apparently I never told them how you used to play pool in your gambling days."

Booth looked at his partner closely. He could see that she had been crying. "What's wrong Bones? And don't tell me nothing."

"Come and sit down with me Booth." Brennan led him over to the stairs and sat down on the third step from the bottom and patted the step next to her. Booth sat down next to her and waited for her to say something.

Brennan put her hand over Booth's. "Remember when we left Sweets office and you said that you loved me and wanted us to take a chance with each other?"

"How can I ever forget?"

"I do love you Booth but I have a problem that is preventing me from taking that chance with you."

Booth got excited and took her hand in his. "We can figure this out together Bones. We can overcome anything together."

"No Booth, I have to figure this out on my own. Sweets is going to help me though. All I am asking is that you not push me on this. When I have figured this out I will come to you, but I must do this on my own."

Booth just stared into her eyes. With his natural ability of being able to read people, he could see that she was determined to conquer this problem on her own. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. When he put her hand back down she put her hand on the side of his face and kissed him. For the first time he felt all of the love that she had for him in the kiss. She got up then and went up to her room and left Booth sitting and watching her climb the steps.

The others had been watching and listening from around the corner but didn't come out until they heard Booth go up to his own room which was right next to Dr. Brennan's. (Angela had chosen the room for her friend.)

"I feel terrible that we listened to such a private conversation." Cam told the others.

Angela looked at Sweets, questioningly. "She'll be alright Angela. She just needs a little help to see the truth of what her parents and brother really did." Sweets left the little group and started for the stairs. "Goodnight everyone." The rest followed Sweets upstairs as well. It had been a long and active day and they were all tired.

TBC….


	3. Chapter 3

In answer to one of the reviews I received: Yes, Sweets does seem to be more mature in this story. I always felt that Brennan treated Sweets like he was a "Kid", because Booth did. In other words, Booth, is a bad influence on Brennan. Without Booths immediate influence on Brennan she treats Sweets with respect and he acts like a mature adult with several degrees to back up his title of Doctor. Age does not influence Brennan's interaction with her interns.

REVELATIONS

Chapter 3

**Sunday morning: 2 A.M. Dr. Jack Hodgins Estate**

Temperance Brennan tossed and turned in her bed. Her mind just wouldn't shut off so that she could sleep. She tried to reason out why she was so afraid of getting into a serious relationship with Booth. She knew she needed to get over this crippling fear. She didn't want to be alone anymore. She wanted Booth and she wanted a child that would love her and never leave her.

She was thinking so much that she was developing a headache. If she concentrated on the sounds of the house she could hear the sound of Booth's gentle snoring next door. Without thinking about it she sat up and grabbed her robe and went to Booth's room and gently knocked on the door. She waited a minute but didn't hear anything. As quietly as she could she turned the knob of his bedroom door and opened it then went in. Before closing the door she looked up and down the hallway to make sure no one had awakened to check on the noise. Once again she carefully closed the door.

She turned and walked over to the bed. Booth slept on the other side of the large queen size bed. Very quietly and carefully she pulled the covers up and after removing her nightgown she crawled into bed beside him. She could feel the heat radiating from his body. He was lying on his stomach and had his head turned the other way.

As soon as he felt the bed move Booth woke up. Without having to look he knew who was lying next to him. He would know her scent anywhere. He turned towards her.

"What's the matter? Can't sleep?" He dared not presume that she wanted him to make love to her. Her mind didn't work like other adults. In some ways she was like a child. She often took things at their face value.

"No, I can't. My mind won't shut off." She rolled over on her stomach and bunched the pillow under her chest and looked at him with what he sometimes described as her impish smile. "I thought maybe we could partake in some therapeutic sex so that my mind would relax and I could rest."

Booth rolled over so that he was on his side and looking down at her. He lightly ran his hand down her back. "You know Temperance, for me, with you, it is more than recreational sex. I would be making love to you. Are you giving yourself to me Temperance?"

Bones was quiet for a long time. She looked up into his eyes, turned over, sat up and let the sheet fall from her breasts. "Yes. I think that I love you just as much as you love me."

He reached for her head and pulled her into his embrace and a gentle kiss. Before going any further he pulled back and said "That is impossible." For the first time, Seeley Jefferson Booth was able to make love to the woman that he saw as his soul mate and the love of his life. Bones was the woman that he wanted to grow old with and to have children with. For the next hour they made love and in the end Bones fell asleep in his arms. She felt tired and at peace with her decision. She didn't analyze what they had done; she was too tired for that. She felt warm and safe in his arms and at that moment just before she fell asleep she knew that Booth would not let anything happen to her if there was any way that he could prevent it. She would remember these thoughts in the coming weeks.

The next morning everyone else was up and having breakfast in the dining room by 9 am. The cook had set up the food in a buffet style so that everyone could get what they wanted. When Angela was almost done she looked at her watch. "Has anyone seen Brennan or Booth?"

Cam looked up from her coffee. "I believe our Dr. Brennan paid Booth a late night visit. I don't know if she stayed because I fell asleep."

Angela had a big grin on her face. "Finally."

Brennan came into the dining room and grabbed a cup of coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs and a couple chunks of melon then sat down. "Good morning everyone."

"Well you're awfully cheerful this morning. Did you have a good 8 hours of sleep last night?" Angela said, emphasizing the 8 hours, while still smiling at her friend.

"I didn't get 8 hours of sleep because Booth and I were engaging in sex for the first time but I can't talk about it right now because he is going to church and is going let me go along with him for the first time. He told me I have to be good though and not ask any questions until the ceremony is over." Brennan quickly ate her food and drank her coffee. She ran upstairs to brush her teeth and grab her purse.

In another five minutes Booth came downstairs and grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down. "Good morning everyone."

"You look surprisingly refreshed this morning." Hodgins said.

Booth looked at them over the rim of his coffee. "She told you?" It was more of a statement then a question.

"You know it buddy." Jack said then busted out laughing. "Was it everything you dreamt it would be?"

"Yes, all that and more." Booth said as he got up and left the dining room. He stopped at the stairs and looked up at Brennan's room. "Let's go Bones. Chop! Chop!"

"We're barbequing ribs this afternoon so make sure you're back by 3." Jack shouted at Booth.

Brennan came running down the stairs with her purse and a small note pad that she was shoving into her purse as she came down the stairs. "Why are you in such a hurry? We have 30 minutes before the ceremony starts."

"Number 1, it's called the Mass. Number 2, if you're late everyone looks your way as you come into the church. What's the notepad for?"

"You said I couldn't ask questions during the Mass so I thought I would write them down and ask you later."

They reached Booth's SUV, he unlocked it and opened the door for her. When she was in he ran to the other side and jumped in, started the engine and stepped on the gas.

All during the Mass Brennan took notes. She watched everything Booth did and imitated him. She saw no logic in it but she did it anyway. By the end of the Mass a small question came into her mind that she dismissed immediately. The question that came to her, unbidden, was 'How could so many people be wrong'.

When Booth got up to leave she reached out and put her hand on his arm. When he looked at her she said "Can we sit here for a few minutes?"

In answer Booth sat down again and patiently waited for the questions to start. To his surprise though she just sat still and said nothing. After 20 minutes the priest came back in, without his vestments, to retrieve something from the chair he used at the altar.

"Wait here Booth." Brennan then approached the priest. Booth watched them as they sat down on the opposite side. They talked for the next 15 minutes. He saw Brennan take out something from her purse and give it to the priest. He guessed that it was her business card. In another minute Brennan got up and returned to Booth.

"If you're ready we can go now." Brennan said.

Booth got up and they returned to his SUV. When he started up the engine and pulled out onto the road he asked her "What was that all about?"

"I told the priest who I was and that I didn't believe that there is a God. I asked if he knew of someone that I could talk to that had an IQ equal or above my own. If he could find one then I wanted to discuss with them the possibility that there is a God. I told him that today I questioned my belief that there is no God. I said that I asked myself how could so many people be wrong?"

Booth, to say the least, was shocked. "If I had known that it was that easy I would have brought you with me a long time ago."

"Yes you should have."

Booth didn't get mad at what she said because he knew that it was just Brennan's way of stating a fact. That's all it was to her, there was nothing malicious behind what she said, it was just the truth.

They were back at Hodgins house by 2 in the afternoon and found Hodgins just starting to fire up the barbeque.

"So what are you heathens up to besides waiting for lunch?" Booth said as he grabbed a beer for himself and one for Brennan. When Brennan saw him getting a beer for her she went over to the fridge where he was standing.

"None for me Booth I think I'll have a Diet Coke instead. It's too hot for beer for me." Brennan grabbed a Diet Coke out of the fridge and went to join Cam and Angela.

Brennan knew that Angela could hardly wait to see her in private. Angela pulled Brennan down to the chair beside her. "Well?" Angela asked.

"Well what?"

"You know what I'm talking about. Was it positive?" Angela asked in a low voice.

"Positive, but I don't want to say anything until I see my Doctor tomorrow." Brennan said in a low voice. She could see Cam's breathing was slowed way down which meant she was sleeping so she felt safe in talking about her secret with Angela. Brennan got up and said in a louder voice "I'm going to go and change, I'll be back in a few minutes."

"You mind if I tag along?" Angela asked Brennan.

"Yes, we can talk while I change."

Hodgins looked at Booth. "I wish I was a fly on her wall right now."

"I hope she doesn't tell her exactly what it was like last night or Angela is going to come down and bow down before me."

"I believe Angela is very satisfied. She won't be going to worship at anyone else's temple anytime soon."

"Let's go to my room and listen." Booth said. Unfortunately for the men Cam was awake and heard them.

"Don't you dare." Cam said as she stepped up behind Booth.

"The men were just going to my room with me so we could talk while I change into my play clothes." Booth said with a grin.

"Please don't even try to insult my intelligence."

Booth just smiled at the other men and went upstairs to change his clothes.

In Brennan's room Angela was waiting for her to come out of the bathroom. She came out with her bathing suit on. It was a deep blue, one piece suit that curved high on the hip. Brennan had very defined hips that she knew would make it easier to have children.

"Well, tell me how it was last night? Was it everything that you dreamed about?"

"I've never dreamt of having sex with Booth, Angela." Brennan saw the disappointed look on her face.

"I've never dreamt of having sex with Booth but I have day dreamed of it sometimes." Brennan had the biggest grin on her face, that Angela had ever seen, as Brennan sat down next to her on the bed. Angela was practically squealing as she grabbed Brennan and hugged her.

"I am so happy for you both. Why you were so reluctant to take this final step is beyond me."

"Well to tell you the truth, for the first time, I didn't really think about it before I went to his bedroom."

Brennan spent the next 15 minutes telling Angela all about her night and her morning results of the pregnancy test strip. By the time they came back down Booth was already down and in his swimming trunks. When the ladies came down Booth took a good look at Brennan and gave a loud wolf whistle. Brennan took off her floor length robe and turned around so they could get a good view of the merchandise. Jack, who was standing at the BBQ looked at Booth and said, "You better jump in the pool man before it's too late."

Booth tore his eyes from Brennan and looked at himself. He quickly tore off his t-shirt and jumped in the pool. After swimming a couple of lapse he popped up by the side. "Come on in people the water is nice."

Everyone threw off their sandals and whatever they were wearing over their swim suits or trunks and jumped into the pool. Since both Jack and Booth were physically stronger than Sweets it was no problem for them to pull him down. The women came over and ganged up on the men in order to pull them off of Sweets. Since Booth was bigger it took both Cam and Brennan to take him down while Angela had her hands full with Jack.

For the next 30 minutes they all played in the pool. It finally ended when Jack got out of the pool to check on the ribs. "Okay kiddies it's time to eat." He stuck his head in the door and called out to the Butler.

"Yes Dr. Hodgins." The butler said when he arrived outside.

"The ribs are ready John, would you have the rest of the food brought out please."

"Yes sir."

By the time the rest were out of the pool and ready to eat the rest of the food had been brought out and placed on the outside table. For the next 30 minutes they enjoyed their meal. Even Brennan was having some ribs. She rarely ate meat ever since she saw the instruments that were used to kill animals to be slaughtered.

By 5:30 that night they were all dressed in their regular clothes and gathering their things in order to leave. Cam was the first one to come downstairs with her overnight suitcase.

"Goodbye Jack, thanks for the quiet weekend. I have to get back and see if I still have a home or if a tornado went through it. You know teenagers."

"Ah yes, the good old days, when Mom and Dad had to do damage control. Good by Cam, see you tomorrow morning." Hodgins said as Cam left. Angela had stopped in at Brennan's room to talk with her while she packed.

"Angela, I wanted to ask if you would go with me to a book signing engagement downtown on Friday night after work." Brennan said as she finished packing her bag.

"Where downtown?"

"The Walden Book Store at the Capitol Mall."

"Isn't that the area where you had the run in with the Salvadoran gang leader? You know Booth isn't going to like you going down there."

"I know, that is why I am not going to tell him. Besides I have to go, it's in my contract that I have to make a certain number of appearances and my Editor is going to send a body guard to stay with me while I'm there."

"Okay, I'll go with you but I think we should at least tell Jack."

"No you can't because he'll tell Booth."

"Okay but I think I should at least tell him before we leave Friday night."

"Okay that is acceptable. I don't want you getting in trouble with him." Brennan and Angela went downstairs. Brennan stopped at Booth's door and knocked a couple of times. Booth opened his door. He had his overnight case and suit with him.

"Everybody leaving now?" Booth asked as he closed his door.

"Yes, Cam left already and I have to go home because I have a doctor appointment tomorrow morning at 8 AM. So I won't be available, if you need me, until probably 9." Booth looked at Angela. She took the hint.

"I'll see you downstairs." Angela said as she left.

"Why are you going to the Doctor? Did I hurt you last night?" Brennan could see he was really worried about her.

"No, of course not, I had this appointment set for the past 2 weeks."

"You scared me for a second. I know I'm a little bigger than most guys."

"Your fear is illogical. If you think about it I am sure that you would come to the conclusion that if a baby can pass through a woman's vagina then she would be able to take any size man." She gave him a kiss then turned to leave.

They said their goodbyes to Jack and Angela and left. As they arrived at their own vehicles Booth went over to Brennan before she could get into her little sports car. "Are you sure you don't want to come over to my place tonight or me come over to yours?"

"No, I think I need to get a full night's sleep tonight. Good night Booth, if we don't have a case tomorrow morning I'll meet you at the diner for lunch at 1 o'clock, okay?"

"Okay, good bye." He gave her a kiss then loaded up in his own car and they both left.

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

**REVELATIONS**

Chapter 4

Booth and Brennan had a ton of paper work to catch up on so they were glad for the brief respite. As agreed on Monday they met at the Diner across from the Jeffersonian at 1 o'clock. Booth had arrived first. When Brennan came in and approached his table he stood up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. As they sat down they heard one of the cooks call out "You win Kathy."

A waitress, her nametag said Sophie, approached Booth and Brennan's table. "Have you two decided what you're having or is it the usual?"

"The usual for me." Brennan answered.

Booth wanted a change from his usual of cheeseburger and French fries. "I think I'll have a Chef's Salad today with only olive oil and unsweetened ice tea."

"If you don't mind my asking, what did Kathy win on?" Brennan asked. They had been coming to the Diner for so long now they knew all of the waitresses.

"We had a pool going as to how long it would take you two to finally take it to the next step. Kathy had 5 years, I had 4 years. If you two had made your move last year I would have won $100 plus interest." Sophie smiled at them and went to get their order.

Both Booth and Brennan blushed since everyone was looking at them.

"I guess were pretty easy to read now." Booth said.

Brennan tried to act like nothing unusual was going on. Sophie brought their drinks and left.

"Did you get a good night's sleep?" Booth asked.

"Yes but it took me awhile to get to sleep."

"Missing me already?" Booth said with a grin.

"Yes and no. I am having writers block with my new book."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"No, you're part of the problem."

"How about we give it one more night then you can come over to my place and we'll work on your problem. Maybe I can force a pole into the dam to make it release what is blocking your creative flow." Booth whispered to her.

Brennan turned a bright red just as the waitress came with the food. She turned her head so the waitress couldn't see her face. She could feel her face burning with embarrassment at what he said. She turned to her purse and pulled out something so she would have an excuse to turn away. When the waitress was gone she turned back to Booth. She didn't say anything because she couldn't think of anything to say in reply.

Booth just grinned at her and started in on his salad. When Brennan felt she could control her voice she said, as calmly as she could, "I believe that would be a good idea."

When Brennan was through with her meal she took one of her vitamins. Booth had seen her do this many times before so he didn't think to question her about it. Since she had gone to see her "female" doctor he didn't ask how her visit went either. When they left Booth drove her up to the Jeffersonian since she had walked over to the Diner.

"I have to go and pick up Parker tonight after work. Rebecca has to go out of town tomorrow and she asked me if he could spend the day with me. Do you think I could bring him over for a visit to the Lab tomorrow after I pick him up from school?"

"Yes bring him over. Everyone likes Parker and enjoys having him around. Maybe he can get in trouble with Dr. Hodgins and one of his experiments. Parker is a very intelligent boy and understands more than most children his age would."

Booth put his hand around her neck and pulled her to him. He gave her a kiss that would stay in her mind until he saw her the next day.

The next morning Brennan received a call from her Doctor while she was at work.

"This is Dr. Brennan." Brennan just happened to be at her desk when the call came in.

"Dr. Brennan this is Dr. Wayne's office. We need you to come back in and give a blood and urine sample again. They had an accident at the Lab where we sent everything and the specimens were lost. Could you come in today so we can get what we need?"

"Yes, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Brennan grabbed her purse and started for the door. Cam was walking by at the same time so she joined her.

"Cam I have to take care of some personnel business and I should be back in about an hour."

"Okay, no problem." Brennan left the Jeffersonian and Cam continued on to a meeting she had upstairs.

Booth had dropped Parker off at school and gone on to the FBI headquarters. As he drove by the Jeffersonian he saw Brennan pulling out into traffic. He wondered where she was going at this time of the morning. He was missing her so much that he found himself wishing for a body to turn up so they could be together through the rest of the day. He quickly chastised himself and tried to refocus his thoughts back onto his work.

The rest of his day was spent gathering all of the evidence and paper work to be turned in on their last case. He found himself constantly watching the clock. Waiting for it to reach 2:30 when he would have to go and pick up Parker then head over to the Jeffersonian. By 2 o'clock he was heading out the door. He dropped off all of the paper work with his boss and took the evidence down to the evidence room.

By the time Booth arrived at the school Parker was standing outside by himself. All of the other children were either being picked up by one of their parents or standing in line to get on the school buses.

Booth pulled up in front of him and leaned over and opened the door for him. Parker was getting taller and Rebecca said she was having a hard time keeping him in clothes. It was clear that he was going to take after his father in height. Parker jumped up into the SUV without any problem. It wasn't very long ago that he had to climb in by using the step under the door.

"Hi Dad." Parker said while he buckled in.

"Dad? What happened to Daddy?" Booth was a little hurt by this.

"Only little kids call their fathers Daddy. I'm going to be 10 pretty soon."

"That's not for another year though. You just turned 9. Besides, you still call your mother Mommy."

"Yeah, but I thought you would take it better if I started calling you Dad. Mommy might start crying if I call her Mom. You know how girls are. She might start crying and hugging me and saying my little boy is growing up." Booth could see Parkers face turning red.

"Did someone tease you about calling your mother Mommy or me Daddy?"

"Yeah, I was telling one of the guys that you worked at the FBI. When I said my Daddy works for the FBI he started teasing me about calling you Daddy and said I probably called my mother Mommy. Then he started making sucking sounds. I felt like running away from them but I didn't. I just stood close to him and said "Yeah I call my father Daddy and I call my mother Mommy. Do you have a problem with that?" Parker put his fists on his hips and showed his father what he did.

"Did you two start fighting?"

"No he backed down. He said "No problem. I still call my father Daddy too but I call my mother Mom". The bell rang then we went back into the school."

"I'm proud of you son. You did well, you had a problem and you handled it without getting mad. That, more than calling me Dad, tells me that you 'are' growing up."

Nothing more was said about Parker calling him Dad. Parker telling him about what happened at school took the sting out of the change from Daddy to Dad.

When they arrived at the Jeffersonian everyone greeted Parker like he was an adult since none of them had children. Parker always liked that. Since Dr. Bones, Angela, Dr. Hodgins and Dr. Saroyan was on the main platform checking some bones Booth took Parker up there also.

"What are you guys doing?" Booth asked.

"We are endeavoring to determine the age of these bones that were found at an anthropological dig over in Arizona. We just received them this afternoon. Would you like to see how we go about determining their age Parker?" Dr. Brennan answered. She never changed her way of speaking to accommodate the IQ or age of the person she was speaking to. She felt it was up to them to research or ask what she meant. It was how she learned as a young girl.

"Yes, I think that would be very interesting. Since your all here can I ask everyone a favor?"

They all answered with an okay.

"Next month we are having a career day at school. I would like to invite all of you to come and talk to us about what you do."

Since Dr. Saroyan was the Boss, as Booth put it, they all looked to her for the answer.

"If everyone agrees I think that can be done. When you find out when we have to come to your school you can send me an e-mail as to the date and time that we have to be there. Your Daddy can give you my e-mail address." Cam told him.

"I'm not his Daddy any more I have been officially renamed 'Dad'. My son has informed me that he is too old to be calling me Daddy." Booth said in a serious tone of voice.

"I believe that is the usual nomenclature to use as one goes into another phase of their life." Dr. Brennan told Parker.

"Do you understand what she said?" Booth asked his son.

"Sure Dad, she said it was normal for me to start calling you Dad at my age."

"You're smarter than I was at your age." Booth said with a smile.

"Just because Parker can understand Dr. Brennan doesn't necessarily mean that he is smarter. It's more likely that he has been exposed to more information than you were at his age. Kids now days are exposed to a lot more information than we were at his age. Parker is especially lucky that he has come to visit here often and he is around Dr. Brennan frequently. No one treats or talks to him as though he was a child." Dr. Saroyan told Booth.

Booth had a broad grin on his face. "I prefer to think that it is my superior genes that I have passed onto him." Booth beat his chest and gave a Tarzan yell. "Boy want to go and see Tarzan's jungle in the museum or do you want to look at dried up old bones?"

Parker followed suit. "Boy want to look at Tarzan's jungle then we can come back so Dr. Hodgins and I can get into trouble."

"What makes you think we're going to get into trouble?" Hodgins asked Parker.

"My Dad said you're always getting into trouble with Dr. Saroyan. But that's okay because I always have fun with you even though we get yelled at. You should have children Dr. Hodgins because you're a lot of fun."

Hodgins looked at Angela and said "I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or criticism."

Booth picked up his son, threw him over his shoulder and left the platform.

"Well I guess a boy's father is still more important than a playmate." Dr. Saroyan said. Everyone went back to whatever they were doing.

**Capital Mall: 3 PM**

A group of boys were walking through the mall after getting out of the movie theater that was attached to the mall. As they crossed in front of the Walden Book store one of them stopped in front of the entrance.

"Mario, isn't that the woman that Ortiz had a run in with last year at the FBI?" Mario came and stood by his friend and looked at a large poster announcing a book signing by Dr. Temperance Brennan at the book store on Friday evening at 6. The picture included a large picture of Dr. Brennan.

"Yeah and I think he will be very interested in this. He knew he could never get to her with the FBI so close. But this is different she's coming into our territory. I think he is going to be very happy about this." The group left to go see Ortiz and give him the news.

**Booth's apartment: Wednesday evening.**

As Booth was making a vegetarian chili and salad for them (Brennan had made it for him one evening and to his surprise he liked it) Brennan was setting the table and pouring them some wine.

After another ten minutes Booth brought over a bowl of the chili along with some fried corn tortilla chips and the salad.

As they started eating Brennan said "Very good Booth, you copied my recipe exactly."

"Thanks, I learned from the pro."

After dinner Brennan helped him clean the kitchen and put the food away. They had eaten at each other's home so often that they knew where everything was. Booth had dropped off Parker at his mother's house before going home so they had the apartment to themselves. He could tell that Brennan wanted to tell him something but was having a hard time. He poured two glasses of wine and they went to sit on the couch. He sat down first and she sat next to him and leaned against him. They both took a sip of their wine.

"So what's up Bones? I know you have something to tell me so just say it. Did you have some bad news from your doctor?"

"No, nothing like that, I had some tests done but the lab had an accident and I had to go in this morning again to give them more samples."

Brennan sat up and looked at him. She wanted to tell him so badly that she was pregnant but she didn't want to say anything until the lab confirmed it. "On Friday evening Angela and I will be going to a local Mall for a book signing. I have to go because it's in my contract with the publisher. I won't be able to come over until Saturday afternoon. I just wanted to let you know."

"Okay, no problem. Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"That's all." Brennan said with her eyes down. She was afraid she couldn't keep the proper look on her face. She concentrated on her wine.

Booth sat back and studied her for a second. He could tell she still had something on her mind. "Okay Bones, spill. You know that I can read you like a book."

"Okay, yes I do have something else I would like to tell you but I don't want to say anything until I have all of my facts straight and test results prove me to be correct." Brennan leaned back on the couch again and looked at him. She could see that he had that same look on his face that he always had when he was figuring out whether the person they were interrogating was telling the truth or not.

"And don't try to get me to tell you what it is or there will be no play time later."

"Yes Dear." Booth said while laughing.

Brennan socked him in his arm.

TBC…..


	5. Chapter 5

**REVELATIONS**

Chapter 5

Brennan made it through the next 2 days without telling Booth about her probable pregnancy. On Friday morning she was just getting ready to go onto the platform when her phone rang. "Dr. Brennan" she answered.

"Dr. Brennan this is the nurse at Dr. Wayne's office. We've received your results and they confirm that you are 4 weeks pregnant. I am going to be setting up an appointment for you to see Dr. Wayne in another month. I'll send it to you through your Email address. Congratulations Dr. Brennan."

"Thank you." Brennan hung up the phone and smiled. The first one she wanted to tell was Angela. She went to her door and looked up at the platform. She didn't see her so she went to her office where she found her sitting at her drawing board and working on giving a face to the last skeleton that Brennan had been working on. She went to the board and just stood next to it. Angela looked up at her friend and saw the biggest grin she had ever seen on her face.

"You're pregnant?" Angela asked as she put her pencil down.

"Yes, I just got the confirmation call from the doctor's office. He said the artificial insemination worked and I was 4 weeks along."

Angela jumped up from her chair and hugged Brennan. When Cam came in to see if the drawing was ready she found the two women practically jumping up and down and laughing. "What's going on here?"

"I'm pregnant. Four weeks ago I used Booth's sperm and I just received a call from my doctor's office. They confirmed my suspicion that it had worked and I am four weeks pregnant."

"Well congratulations then. Does Booth know that you used his sperm?" Cam asked.

"No, I haven't told him yet. I didn't want to say anything until I was sure. You know how those home pregnancy tests can give a false positive." Cam and Angela looked at each other when Brennan said that. They were both remembering when Angela had thought she was pregnant when she took one of those home pregnancy tests and it turned out to be a false reading.

"Well let's get to work." Cam said as she started to leave Angela's office. Brennan and Angela followed Cam up to the platform where they had bones that they were checking.

"By the way Cam, Angela and I will be leaving at 5 o'clock so that I can go to a book signing at the Capitol Mall. I've alerted security already that there will be a body guard coming to pick us up."

"Okay, I'll let Booth know if he calls." Cam said as she went back to her office.

Everyone went back to their current project. At 4 o'clock Angela let Jack know where she was going and said she should be home by 9. "Nine, isn't that kind of early for you two on a Friday night?" Jack asked her as she gave him a kiss goodbye.

"No drinking tonight, I'll see you at 9." Angela said as she joined Brennan at the door.

As the two ladies left through the front door a Mr. Randolph stood up and introduced himself to Dr. Brennan.

"Dr. Brennan, I am Fred Randolph and I will be escorting you to the Mall." Fred said as he shook Brennan's hand.

"Who sent you?" Brennan asked. She knew enough not to offer any information but for Mr. Randolph to give her information that fit what she knew.

"Ms. Diana Whiting of Bell's publishing. She also reserved a limousine to take you to the Capitol Mall."

"Okay Mr. Randolph, this is my friend Angela Hodgin that will be accompanying me." Mr. Randolph shook Angela's hand then escorted them to the limousine and opened the door for them.

The limousine had three doors on the side and was black with blue interior. A small bar held cold drinks and several different types of liquor. Both Angela and Brennan refrained from any drinks since the ride would only take 15 to 30 minutes.

Angela couldn't contain herself so she just squealed with excitement. "Oh Brennan, I can hardly wait to tell Jack about it. I want us to have our first babies together. Jack doesn't know it but I am going to stop taking my birth control pills today and get that man to put in overtime in the bed."

Brennan just laughed at Angela. "I didn't think I would feel this way but I am incredibly happy also. I'm glad that I asked Sweets to help me understand why I am so reluctant to engage in a more intimate relationship with Booth. I've seen Sweets once and he has helped me a lot already. He reinforced Booth's words to me that my parents left me for my own protection and all these years I've been looking at what they did to me through the eyes of a child and not as an adult. I am more than old enough to understand that they loved me so much that they were willing to endure my hatred for them. They left me to protect me and not because they didn't love me anymore. I just have to get it through my thick skull that they didn't stop loving me and Booth wouldn't stop loving me and leave me. My parents were just forced to do what they did because of unusual circumstances."

Angela pulled back and had a shocked look on her face. She held her hand over her chest and said, "Who are you and what have you done with Dr. Temperance Brennan. The Temperance Brennan that I know would never admit to having a thick skull and be unwilling to change."

Brennan just laughed at her friend and lightly punched her in the shoulder. "Stop that. I can change just like anyone else. I learn and evolve. I understand that one can become set in their ways but I admit to still having things to learn and not everything can be learned from books, so I continue to learn from people like Booth and I evolve."

"You're the only one that I know that can make learning sound like it makes you superior to anyone else." Angela said as she hugged her friend. "But I love you anyway."

Before they knew it they were at the Mall and the body guard had stopped and was opening the door for them. "Ladies." He said as he held out his hand to help them out of the limousine.

Brennan got out first and then Angela. The guard locked the doors and escorted them into the Mall. All the time they were walking he kept his eyes open and constantly scanning the crowd. As they approached the Book store they could see a long line of people waiting for Dr. Brennan to start signing their books. It was now 6 p.m.

**Special Agent Seeley Booth's apartment: 9 P.M.**

Booth had fallen asleep on the couch watching a game. He was dreaming. His heart was beating faster in reaction to his dream. He was running as fast as he could because he could hear Bones screaming. It sounded like he was getting closer to her because her screaming got louder, but he could never get close enough to find her and find out why she was screaming. He then realized that he was in a maze but the maze was made out of old buildings with endless alleyways. Calling out her name as loud as he could he awoke and sat up with a jerk. On the TV he saw that the game was still going on. He had had dreams about Brennan being in trouble before so he didn't think anything of it. As he turned the TV off and went to his bedroom though he kept hearing her scream. He tried putting it out of his mind and went into the bathroom to take a shower before going to bed.

**Capitol Mall: 9 P.M.**

The book store was finally calling an end to the book signing event and was closing its doors. Many of the people that had been standing in line had started to go home as they heard the announcement over the PA that the mall would be closing in 30 minutes. Brennan got up slowly. Her legs were stiff from sitting for so long.

"I have to go to the bathroom before I have an accident." Brennan told Angela as she got up. They were delayed 10 minutes more while the book store manager thanked her. Brennan was practically dancing by now. As soon as she could she left the store and headed for the entrance where they had the public restrooms. Mr. Randolph told them that he would pull the Limousine to the entrance and wait for them. He could see the entrance to the Ladies Restrooms from the parking lot so he wasn't too concerned about anything happening. There were also two mall security guards on the outside of the entrance doors.

As Mr. Randolph approached the Limousine he saw an old van parked next to the Limousine which he thought was unusual since the area was designated for Limousine parking only. He quickly assessed the situation and decided that it was okay to get into the car since the van was parked on the passenger side of the Limo. He started up the car and pulled over to the entrance of the Mall. He got out and opened the door for Dr. Brennan and Angela. The two security guards watched as the Limousine pulled away. They watched also as the van pulled out of the parking lot at the same time. One of the guards wrote down the license plate number and the model and color of the van just in case they heard of a problem.

As Mr. Randolph made his way off of the Mall property he noticed that two vans seemed to be following him. It was too dark were they were for him to be able to see them very well but he was almost certain that one of them was the same one that had been parked next to the Limo. He decided to step on the gas.

"Hold on ladies, I think we have company." Angela and Brennan put on their seat belts. Brennan pulled out her cell phone and called 911. Before she could get the 911 operator the two vans pulled up alongside of the Limo, one van on each side. Mr. Randolph knew that the Limo was a big car and could probably push the van out of the way so he stepped on the gas. The Limo hit the van that was partially blocking his way. Since he didn't have the space to obtain any velocity his impact on the van only served to tear off the front fender of the van. From the corner of his left eye he saw the side of the van fly open. A young boy that couldn't have been more than 14 jumped out. In his hands he had a gun that he was pointing at Randolph. The Limo windows weren't bullet proof so the body guard pulled out his own gun. Before he could pull it out of its holster the boy fired point blank at the window. The glass only barely slowed down the bullet but it did give Randolph time to duck to the right side.

The 911 call that Brennan had made finally obtained an operator. All Brennan could get out before the door was pulled opened was "This is Dr. Brennan at the Capitol Mall….." Someone hit her with a hard object and she lost consciousness. Angela could hear the operator saying….'911 Please state the nature of your emergency.'

Angela was able to yell 'HELP' before she was knocked unconscious also.

The men kidnapping them quickly unlocked their safety belts and pulled them into the vans. The men on the left pulled Brennan into the van and Angela was pulled into the one on the right. They quickly left the area. No one had bothered to check on whether Randolph was alive or dead. The bullet that the kid had fired at him only grazed the side of his head since he had been leaning over sideway when the bullet came through the glass. As all head wounds do it bled a lot. Anyone that took a quick glance at him would think that it went into his head and killed him. Fortunately the kid that shot him thought he had killed him when he saw the blood going down the side of his face. The kid that had shot at him was so scared by the sound of the gun and the thought that he had killed a man, all he could think of was to jump back into the van.

Randolph quickly reached for his own cell phone and called 911.

**Hodgins Estate home: 12 midnight.**

Dr. Jack Hodgins had already tried calling Angela several times but it kept going to a recording. At 11 P.M. and after the third try to contact Angela he called Dr. Brennan's cell phone number. Her phone went to a recording also. Jack was scared now. Angela was usually home at the time she said she would be home.

After pacing back and forth a few times more he decided to call Booth.

Booth was in bed and was awakened by the sound of his regular phone. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Hodgins name.

"Booth." He answered.

"Booth, this is Jack, is Angela and Dr. Brennan over there by any chance?"

"No, what's wrong?"

"Angela and Dr. Brennan went to a book signing at the Capitol Mall earlier this evening and Angela said they would be back by 9. Its midnight and they're not back and I can't reach either one of them. I just keep getting a recording from both of their cell phones."

Booth was fully awake now. "I'll call you back in a few minutes. Stay by your phone."

TBC…


	6. Chapter 6

**REVELATIONS**

Chapter 6

**Special Agent Seeley Booth's apartment: 12 midnight**

Booth called the local 911 and identified himself.

"This is Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI; I need to know if there have been any reported incidents at the Capitol Mall this evening?"

The 911opertor answering his call took a moment to check the database that held all 911 calls. "Yes sir we had an emergency call from the Capitol Mall. The call only lasted a minute, would you like to hear it?"

"Yes please." Booth listened carefully. He heard Brennan identifying herself then Angela's cry for help.

"Is there anything else?" Booth asked.

"Yes, about 5 minutes later we received another call from the same location from a Mr. Randolph stating that two women he had been hired to guard, a Dr. Brennan and Angela Hodgins had been kidnapped by a group of men in two large vans had ambushed him. He said he had been shot at but it only grazed his head. He couldn't give us a license number."

"Alright, please contact the officer in control that someone from the FBI will be there as soon as possible." Booth didn't wait for a reply; he just hung up on the operator and called Cullen. He knew that he would have to get Cullen's okay for him to pursue the investigation since kidnapping wasn't his area and as far as he knew they hadn't been taken across state lines.

"Cullen here."

"Director Cullen, this is Booth. Dr. Brennan and Angela have been kidnapped. They were at the Capitol Mall for a book signing and they were taken as they left." Booth didn't say anymore.

"Go for it Booth. Call on anyone that you need. Do you have any idea of who might have done this?"

"Yes, I suspect it was the leader of the local Salvadoran gang. Brennan had a confrontation with him during a case a couple of years ago."

"Okay, make sure that you bring in the Gang division. They'll be able to give you the most help with the local gangs." Cullen hung up then and called the Chief of Police at the local LAPD and gave him all of the information that he currently had and why they were coming in on this kidnapping.

As soon as Booth hung up with Cullen he called Hodgins, as he had promised.

Hodgins had been pacing back and forth by the phone. His Butler, John, had heard the noise and was standing with him while he waited for Booth to call him back. He was just reaching for his phone to call Booth when it rang.

"Jack Hodgins here."

"Jack this is Booth. Brennan and Angela have been kidnapped by what I suspect are the local Salvadoran gang. Meet me at the Capitol Mall on the east side." Before Jack could ask any questions Booth hung up. He had finished dressing while he was talking on the phone so he grabbed for his ID, gun, wallet and keys and ran out of the door. As soon as he started up his SUV he put the siren on and headed for the Mall.

Since it was late at night there was hardly any traffic to speak of and Booths siren and lights cleared what little traffic there was. It was easy to find the ambushed Limousine. Booths SUV came to a screeching halt right behind the other police cars. He approached the police sergeant that seemed to be in charge.

Booth held up his FBI credentials as he came to the circle of men. "I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI where is the driver of the Limousine?"

"He's over at the back of the ambulance." The police sergeant answered.

Booth found the man he was looking for being attended to by a paramedic. The paramedic had cleaned the blood off of the side of the man's face and put a large square bandage on the side of his forehead where the flying glass had caused more damage than the bullet that had barely grazed him.

"Are you Mr. Randolph?"

"Yes."

"I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Yes. I was hired to escort Dr. Temperance Brennan to a book signing at the Walden Book store here at the mall. She had brought a friend of hers, a woman by the name of Angela Hodgins. When I started to pull out of the mall parking lot two large white vans got on either side of me and wedged the Limo between them so that I was forced to stop. I tried using the weight of the Limo to plow through them but I only succeeded in tearing off the front fender of the van on my left. At that point a young boy, that couldn't have been more than 14 jumped out of the van on my left and fired a shot gun at me. Fortunately, as you can see, it only grazed me. Lucky for me he was so scared when he saw the glass shatter and fall all over me that he jumped back into the van without checking to see if I was dead. I could hear the doors on the back being opened and the women being pulled out and thrown into the van. I heard their tires screeching as they peeled out of the parking lot. When they grabbed the women they either must have knocked them out or used something to make them sleep because I only heard a short scuffle then the closing of the van side door."

"By any chance did you get a license plate number on either one of the vans?" Booth asked.

"No I didn't but check the fender that I tore off of the van that was on my left."

Booth went to the front of the Limo. One of the police officers was lifting up the fender and shining a light on it to get a better look. They were both surprised when they saw a license plate. It was a California license plate. Unlike many states, California required a license plate on both the back and the front and this license plate was as good as a photo of the van.

"Get an APB out on this license plate with a description of the van." Booth told the officer. He looked up when he heard another car join the rest. He could see that it was a fast little sports car. "It has to be Hodgins." Booth thought to himself and sure enough Hodgins came running over to Booth after he checked the ambulance.

"Where are they?"

"We don't know yet. We had a bit of luck though. The driver of the Limo was able to hit the van on his left and tore its front fender off. We found a license plate on it and have called out an APB on it. Let's go back to the FBI headquarters and well talk to the Gang division."

"Do you think it might have been that Salvadoran gang leader, Ortiz, that Dr. Brennan had a run in with a couple of years ago?" Hodgins asked.

"Yes, I'd bet my badge on it. Let's go, follow me to HQ then you can leave your car there." Both Booth and Hodgins ran to their vehicles and left with the sound of screeching wheels behind them.

At FBI headquarters Hodgins followed Booth. Since Booth was taller Jack had to almost run to keep up with him as he followed him through the maze of hallways and offices. They finally came to a stop when they reached a large open area with a lot of cubicles. Booth led them over to the center of the cubicles where a long table and a large long white board was set up in the middle of the room.

"Booth, glad you could make it." One of the Agents said as he looked up at him when he came into the area.

"John Hopkins, this is Dr. Jack Hodgins from the Jeffersonian. His wife is Angela Hodgins, the other woman that was kidnapped along with Dr. Brennan." Booth said. He introduced Jack to only John since there were too many people in the room to introduce each of them. When he said Jacks name one of the Agents at the table stood up.

"Dr. Hodgins, I'm Agent Denise Rodgers." Jack reached over the table and shook her offered hand.

"You're the head of the Cantilever group aren't you?"

"Jack is the "owner" of the Cantilever group." Booth said.

"I've been trying to see someone in the Cantilever group for a long time."

"Let's take care of your personnel agenda later Agent Rodgers. Right now let's concentrate on finding the two missing women. Special Agent Booth, Cullen has already informed us of the current situation and why you think that the leader of the local Salvadoran gang, Ortiz, has them. From what I understand he has a grudge against your partner." Hopkins said.

"Yes, shortly after the case we were working on was solved one of your people let me know that Ortiz had put out a contract on my partner. I persuaded him to cancel it." Everyone laughed at what Booth said. Knowing Booth, Jack guessed at how he had persuaded Ortiz.

"We believe, as you do, that Ortiz has taken the opportunity presented to him and kidnapped Dr. Brennan. Since no ransom note has been received by anyone we can only surmise that he has her and will most likely have a gangbanger party then kill her or just kill her and dump her body at your doorstep." Hopkins then looked at Hodgins. "We have no idea what he wants your wife for Dr. Hodgins. Most likely though she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and most likely she will suffer the same fate since it has been well advertised in the newspapers that the Cantilever group does not negotiate with kidnappers or terrorists."

Jack was silent for a moment. "I understand that Special Agent Hopkins. I have complete faith in Booth and the rest of the FBI. If you should need anything to help you get my wife and Dr. Brennan back just tell me and I'll see to it that you get it."

"Thank you Dr. Hodgins. Right now we are waiting for a call back from one of our undercover men. Informants are also being questioned for any news. We have a pretty good idea as to where they might be holding the women but we don't want to show too much police activity in this area or else they might decide to just get rid of the evidence faster than they planned. For now we just have to sit and wait for information to come in."

Booth walked away from the rest. One of the Junior Agents directed him over to the break room where they had coffee, sandwiches and donuts. Hodgins followed him.

After they both got some coffee and sandwiches Booth walked over to the windows and put his coffee and sandwich on the window sill. He pulled his cell phone out and his note book where he had some phone numbers listed. He looked to the back and found Brennan's fathers name, Max Keenan. He quickly punched the numbers.

A sleepy Max answered, "Hello."

"Max, this is Booth."

As soon as Max heard the name his heart started beating faster. "What's wrong? Is Temperance okay?"

Booth hesitated a second and that made Max's heart beat even faster. "Max, Temperance has been kidnapped by what we suspect is the local Salvadoran gang leader. We're trying to find her now and were counting on some contacts to give us some good news. Max, do you have any Salvadoran acquaintances that may be able to get us a clue as to where they have taken her?" Booth held his breath while waiting for an answer.

"No, I don't. The races don't mix in prison Booth unless they are forced to by being paired up as cell mates."

"Thanks Max. I thought I would play a long shot."

"Why do you think the Salvadoran gang wanted Temperance? Have they asked for ransom money?"

"No, we haven't received any ransom notice." Apparently Bones hadn't told her father about the run in she had with the gang leader so he proceeded to explain why they thought she had been taken by them.

"She knew that I would have insisted on going with her if she told me where she was going."

"Sometimes I wish I could just take her over my knee and spank her. Her Mother was the same way. She was the one that insisted that we leave the kids behind and try to draw away those that were tracking us. No matter what kind of logical argument I came up with she would insist on leaving the kids."

"Well at least Temperance came by her stubbornness honestly. I'll call you with any news as soon as I know. Call her brother, for me, in the morning. It's no use in him losing sleep tonight also." Booth hung up without saying anything more. He tried one more call, but this one he had to look up.

Booth looked around the room for Agent Rodgers. He spotted her over in a cubicle that he presumed was hers. Hodgins followed him over to the Junior Agents cubicle.

"Agent Rodgers, are you busy?" Booth asked. He didn't really care if she was or not, he just wanted to be polite and not scare her.

"Not really, can I help you with anything?"

"Yes, can you check for a phone number for me for a Jose Duarte?" Rodgers turned to her computer and started typing away.

"Isn't that the guy that was caught with his father and sisters skeletons?" Hodgins asked.

"Yeah, I'm hoping that he is still grateful to Bones for giving his father and sister a proper burial."

"Here is his last known address and phone number." Rodgers gave Booth a piece of paper with a phone number on it. He thanked her then walked back over to the windows again and punched in the numbers.

The phone rang 5 times before it was finally picked up. "Hello." A man's voice answered.

"Jose Duarte?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"Duarte, this is Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI. I need you to return a favor that you owe Dr. Temperance Brennan." Booth could hear a woman asking something in Spanish at the other end. He heard Duarte tell her to shut up.

"What can I do for her?"

"Dr. Brennan has been kidnapped and we suspect Ortiz. Can you find out if he has her and if he does than where is she being kept?" It was quiet for awhile.

"I don't associate with them anymore but I know someone who still does. He owes me a favor. When was Dr. Brennan kidnapped?"

"Tonight, we know that someone with a white van from California helped them."

"I'll call my friend and see what he knows. I can't push to fast on this though because they could start asking questions as to why my friend is interested. Give me your phone number and I'll call you back as soon as I can." Booth gave him his phone number and they both hung up.

"So what do we do now?" Hodgins asked.

"We wait."

TBC…


	7. Chapter 7

**REVELATIONS**

Chapter 7

In Little Salvador two white vans pulled up into an alleyway from the main street that went through the suburb. They pulled up into parking spaces that were on the side of an old grocery store that had seen better days. The back of the building had one large room that they used for receiving of supplies. It also housed a walk-in freezer and equipment for butchering meat. Hooks hung from a rail system that was connected to the ceiling where they could hang large pieces of meat such as beef or pork and occasionally lamb. The rail system was set up so that the meat could be pulled over to the large metal tables where they could be more easily cut up.

The vans had been parked by the store many times so it wasn't an unusual sight. Neither van had the name of the store on them. The van from California had joined the store just 1 month ago and had replaced another white van that had been totaled in an accident just 2 months ago.

Even though there were homes across the street and behind the store no one thought to take precautions since it was still dark and people were still quiet. Two men pulled the unconscious women out of the vans and slung them over their shoulders and took them over to the stores receiving area as someone else rolled up the door. Ortiz stood inside by one of the tables. He had already been drinking beer as he waited for the rest to kidnap Dr. Brennan.

"Where did you get the other one?" Ortiz asked no one in particular.

"She was a freebie that was in the car with your Dr. Brennan. We took her as extra entertainment." Fernando, a man dressed in nothing but a sleeveless t-shirt and baggy pants answered with a wicked grin.

"Did you have any trouble?"

"No, it was easy. Manuel made his first kill when he took out the driver." Fernando answered.

"Where do you want them?" The man carrying Dr. Brennan asked.

For the first time Ortiz got up from the table he was sitting on. "Tie their hands together and hang them on the hooks. They shouldn't be able to do anything from there. Tape their mouths shut so that they can't make any noise when they come around."

Ortiz was practically salivating as he watched the others tie the women up, tape their mouths and hang them from two hooks. His mind was busy thinking of ways that he was going to get back at this bitch for humiliating him at the FBI building. No one could ever get away with that and still live if he had anything to say about it. Now he was finally getting his chance to put her in her place and have some fun while doing it.

When they were through hanging the women from the hooks they all went to the front of the store and started making sandwiches for themselves. Of course no thought was given to compensating the store owner for what they took. They all knew that the owner wouldn't dare approach them on the loss to his income. They were afraid of no one as long as they were in a gang and had the numbers to support their backs.

One hour later, in the receiving room, Brennan and Angela were waking up. The first thing they thought of when they regained consciousness was that their mouths were taped and their arms and wrists were hurting. Brennan looked around the room and took everything in. She looked at Angela and could sense her rising panic.

Brennan knew she had to try to get off of the hook she was hanging from. She maneuvered the rope tied around her wrists so that she could grab onto the hook. With her left hand she held onto the hook then put her right hand above her left one. When she felt she had a good enough grip on the top of the hook she let go of the hook with her left hand and lifted the rope over the pointed end and off of the hook. Carefully she let go and fell to the floor. She was barely able to keep standing when she landed since her hands were still bound together. She quickly pulled the tape off of her mouth then went over to Angela and put her arms under her legs so that her arms encircled them then grabbed her legs and lifted her up enough so that she could lift her hands off of the hook. As soon as she could, Angela pulled the tape off of her mouth then stepped out of Brennan's arms.

"Try to untie my hands." Brennan told Angela. The knots on the ropes had been made very tight as their weight pulled at the rope. It took Angela several minutes to get the knots out. Just as they finished untying each other they heard the door open.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ortiz said real loud. Angela screamed and jumped at the sound.

Brennan recognized Ortiz right away. "If I were you Ortiz, I would let us go because my partner will have all of the FBI to find us. I feel that I must warn you that Booth never gives up when going after a criminal."

"He'll never find us here. We left no witnesses to tell them who took you." Ortiz and his men moved to surround the women. Angela stuck close to Brennan. She was so scared that she was shaking.

One of the men grabbed Angela's arm and pulled her away from Brennan. Angela screamed and struck out at the man that had his hand on her arm. She struck out with the only weapons she had which were her nails and teeth.

This time it was the man holding her that screamed out in pain as she ran her nails down his face and almost took his left eye out. The man hit her with his fist and that was the last thing she remembered as she went down hard on the concrete floor.

Two men grabbed onto Brennan. She fought them as best she could but there was just too many of them. When she would knock one down another would take his place. Finally when Ortiz thought the others had a firm grip on Brennan he came towards her and said, "I told you that all you needed was a real man like me to teach you how to behave. Tonight I am going to give you your first lesson." Ortiz wanted Brennan to be awake for all of what he considered fun so he kept his fists away from her head. His first strike was to her stomach. For the next 15 minutes he used her as a punching bag. When he started to get tired he started to hit her face. With the first blow to her face Brennan lost consciousness.

**FBI Headquarters: 10 AM**

Both Booth and Hodgins were tired from being up since yesterday but they were too wound up to even attempt sleeping. Booths head shot up when he heard a telephone ring. He saw Hopkins answer the phone. Another agent answered another phone as it rang.

Booth and Hodgins went over to Sp. Agent John Hopkins when he signaled to them to come over.

"We've received a call from our undercover man. Rumor has it that Ortiz has kidnapped two women from the Capitol Mall but no one knows where he is keeping them or who they are. Apparently everyone that knows where they are, are still with them and no one has come out to brag about it."

Booth's cell phone rang just as Hopkins finished updating them. "Booth here."

"Booth, this is Jose Duarte, my friend is almost certain that he knows where Dr. Brennan is being held."

"Where?" Booth asked.

"At the corner of 16th and 17th Street there is a grocery store owned by an old couple. Their son is a member of Ortiz's gang and they often gather at the back of the store where they receive supplies. Today the store has a closed sign on it when it should be opened because Saturday is usually a busy day for them."

"Can you trust your friend's information?"

"Yes, he is my son's Godfather."

"Okay, thanks for all of your help. When we get Dr. Brennan back I'll make sure that she knows who helped us." Booth told him then hung up.

He turned to Hopkins and gave him the information that he had just been given. Some of the Agents started to get their gear together so they could go after them but Sp. Agent Hopkins told everyone to stop. "Let's not go running over there yet. We want to send our undercover guy over to the store to check it out first. We all know what has happened before when we've been given bad information." Hopkins picked up his phone again and called the undercover Agent.

Once again they sat and waited for a call back.

**Little Salvador: 12 Noon**

Brennan hung from one of the hooks again. It could be plainly seen that she had been badly beaten. One side of her face was swollen from her eye down to the bottom of her jaw. She had bruises up and down her arms where some of the men had held onto her while Ortiz had his fun.

As Brennan was being beaten Angela was tied up again and was once again hanging from one of the hooks. They had replaced the tape over her mouth but she could easily see everything that was happening to her friend. Her tears never stopped as she watched. Every time she tried to turn away so she couldn't see Ortiz beating Brennan one of the men would turn her back towards them. Over the group circled around Brennan Angela could see that some of the men would walk over to one of the tables where they would inhale some cocaine then go back.

Within the next few minutes, what they were waiting for started.

Ortiz backed away from Brennan. He looked at his hands and could see them covered in Brennan's blood. "Give her a shot of heroin, take her clothes off and put her on the table then throw some water on her. When she wakes up again she won't have so much fight in her." As Ortiz walked over to the sink to wash her blood off of his hands he looked over at Angela for the first time. "Do the same for her friend over there. Divide yourselves up into two groups."

Ortiz looked at the group of men following his orders. He saw the young boy, Manuel, standing over by the door by himself.

"Manuel, come over here and make yourself useful." Ortiz knew that this was the first time for him to be involved in a gang rape. Manuel came over to Ortiz while watching what was happening to the women. He had never seen a woman with nothing on before except in playboy magazines.

"Is there something you want me to do?" Manuel asked.

"Go and get the hose they use to clean the meat off. Hook it up and put it between the two tables. We'll need it to clean them out after each one has their turn." Ortiz saw the questioning look on the boys face. "If we don't clean them out they'll get too slippery inside and we won't be able to get what we want." The boy didn't want to appear dumb so he just smiled at Ortiz and went to get the hose.

**FBI Headquarters: 1 PM**

Hopkins phone rang and everyone jumped up. Their bodies already providing the adrenalin they would need to do what they knew was coming. A few minutes later Hopkins hung up. "He's 100 per cent sure that they are in the back of the store. There are two white vans parked on the side and one of them has the California license plate we are looking for. There are at least 5 other cars parked close by." The rest of the agents grabbed their gear and headed for the door. When they all left the building they had five, large, black SUVs heading for Little Salvador, along with 2 large vans rigged for the transportation of prisoners and 2 paramedics' vehicles.

Booth and Hodgins along with Special Agent John Hopkins were in one of the five vehicles headed for Little Salvador. As soon as they were on the road Booth pulled out his cell phone and called Cullin, Max Keenan then Cam to let them know what was going on.

When Cullin got off of the phone with Booth he immediately called his boss to let him know what had happened. Cam called her boss and Dr. Sweets to let them know what had happened to Brennan and Angela and told Sweets to meet her at the hospital.

**Little Salvador: 2 PM**

Inside of the large room they had both women on the tables. The men would take turns holding the women's legs up so the men would have easy access to them. As they held the women's legs up they would have fun playing with their breasts.

They barely had to restrain them because the heroin kept their brains from taking in all that was happening to them. The heroin was also masking the pain that Brennan was experiencing. After the third man had his turn at her and pulled out of her a lot of blood came flowing out. They all thought it was because Ortiz was real rough with her and had torn something inside of her. They didn't care though because they were only interested in what they wanted so the fourth man unzipped his pants and entered her after he used the hose to clean her out.

Just as it was Ortiz's turn again they heard a loud bang at the rolling door. Then the door was rolled up and over two dozen FBI agents came in with guns pointing at them. Everyone was shouting at the same time. None of the gang members could ever be accused of being overly intelligent but none were so stupid as to reach for a gun when they had over two dozen guns pointing at them.

Booth and Hodgins went running to Brennan and Angela. Both of the men quickly took off their FBI jackets and covered the women.

"Get the paramedics in here." Booth shouted. He took a moment to check Angela. "How is she?" He asked Hodgins.

"Not as bad as Dr. Brennan. She looks like they refrained from using her as a punching bag. How is Dr. Brennan?"

"She's in bad shape, real bad. Besides everything else I think her jaw is broken and she's bleeding a lot. I think they hurt her internally." Booth backed up as the paramedics came in and started assessing Brennan's injuries. Another pair of paramedics started checking out Angela and Hodgins stepped to the side also.

Booth and Hodgins both backed up and let the paramedics do their job. To get his mind off of Brennan, Booth looked over at the gang members that were being searched then handcuffed. In the middle of the line of gang members he recognized Ortiz. Hopkins was busy watching the arrest and making sure that everyone was read their rights and just to make sure that they understood he had a second Agent that spoke Spanish repeat their rights to them.

Out of the corner of his eye Hopkins saw Booth coming over to the group. He knew what the look on Booth's face meant. Hopkins quickly stepped in front of Booth and had to physically push him away and against the wall.

"You want these guys to be put away where they can't hurt anyone again don't you?"

Booth hesitated for a moment. Hopkins felt him start to relax. He could see sanity slowly come back into Booths eyes.

"Yes, I want that, and more. He beat her real bad John. It looks like they hurt her real bad when they raped her. She has a lot of blood coming from between her legs and it's pooling on the table and around her. The medics are working on her now. Dr. Hodgins and I will be going to the hospital with them."

Booth put his hands on Special Agent John Hopkins shoulders and looked at him. "Don't let anything happen John where he could get away from paying for what he did to her. Promise me John that he'll be in prison by the time she is all healed."

"I promise Booth, that I will do my best to make sure that he pays for what he did to Dr. Brennan and Mrs. Hodgins." John said. He turned away from Booth then and left him standing against the wall. He knew that he needed that wall to hold him up right now.

Hodgins called out to Booth. "They're taking them to the hospital now Booth."

He went running to join them at the ambulances. After helping to put the stretcher in the ambulance he looked over at the other ambulance and saw Hodgins doing the same thing. When he saw that they were okay he climbed in and they left for the hospital.

TBC….


	8. Chapter 8

**REVELATIONS**

Chapter 8

**Our Lady of Hope Hospital: Saturday 4 PM **

Both ambulances pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital. Everyone got out and helped pull the stretchers out. Emergency room personnel had come out to assist by the time they had the stretchers out. Within minutes both women had been taken in and transferred to emergency room beds so that they could more easily work on them. The paramedics quickly pulled out their stretchers. Booth and Hodgins had been forced to stand by on the outside of the rooms.

Booth and the others could hear the attending physicians being given all of the information that the paramedics had gathered on the two women. Booth was able to hear only a few words; the one that stood out the most though was the word "pregnant". He didn't have time to think too much about it though because both Max and Russ came in through the emergency room doors. Booth raised his hand to get their attention.

The first words out of Max Keenan were "How is she?"

"We don't know they haven't come out to tell us anything." Booth said.

A nurse came out to the group of people. "Is there anyone from Dr. Brennan's immediate family here?"

"Yes, I'm her Father. How is she?"

"We're still working on her. Right now I need to know if she was pregnant."

Cam spoke up for the first time. "I'm her supervisor at work. Dr. Brennan was informed just yesterday; by her Doctor that she was 4 weeks pregnant."

"Thank you. She was bleeding too much for it to be caused just by the rape. Do you know who the Father is?"

Cam and everyone else looked at Booth.

"This is Special Agent Seeley Booth; Dr. Brennan had artificial insemination using his sperm." Cam told the nurse.

"Okay then, I am sorry to tell you then that she did lose the baby. At this point though we are not sure if it was directly caused by the rape and beating that she received or if she was already having a miscarriage. One of the Doctors will be out to talk to you as soon as Dr. Brennan is stabilized." The nurse started to return to the emergency room.

"What about my wife, Angela Hodgins?" Hodgins asked.

"I'll have someone come out and talk to you as soon as they can Mr. Hodgins." The nurse quickly went back to the group working on Brennan.

Within another 15 minutes a Doctor, dressed in a white coat, came out to talk to everyone. Hodgins had seen him come out of the room where Angela was so he stepped forward. "How is my wife?"

"I'm Dr. Franklin Mr. Hodgins, your wife is okay. Other than being raped she is doing alright. The heroin has worn off and she is coherent now and able to answer questions. We used a rape kit on her but we don't think that they will be able to use any of it because she had so many different men force themselves on her. Besides cuts to her wrists where we presume she was tied and bruises to her arms and breasts she is alright. Before we take her upstairs she wants to talk to her husband and someone called Booth."

"I'm Booth."

Hodgins and Booth followed Dr. Franklin into the room where Angela was. As soon as she saw Jack she started crying. He went to the side of the bed and pulled her into his arms while they both cried. After a few minutes Angela pulled away and lay back down. She looked to Booth.

"Can you tell me what happened Angela?"

"Brennan had to go to the Capitol Mall for a book signing because it was in her contract. She knew you would put up an argument against her going so she decided not to tell you about it. She knew that it might be dangerous to go there. The book signing was over by 9 and we left with Mr. Randolph, the body guard that her editor hired for her. Within minutes of driving away two white vans pulled up beside us and forced us to stop. The next thing we knew someone shot into the car at Mr. Randolph and grabbed Brennan and I. They put something over our mouths to make us sleep. When we woke up our hands were tied and we were hanging from what looked like meat hooks. Brennan was able to get off of her hook and helped me get off of mine. Before we could escape a group of men came in. Brennan recognized Ortiz. She warned him that you and all of the FBI would be looking for us and you wouldn't give up until you found us." Angela was crying all the time she was telling them what happened. Jack gave her more Kleenex.

"She fought them Booth. You would have been proud of her. She put down 4 men before they were able to hold her. She had 3 men holding onto her before Ortiz had the guts to come close to her. She had one holding each arm and one with his arm around her neck. He started hitting her in her stomach Booth. He must have hit her more than half a dozen times. She never screamed out in pain though. When he punched her in the stomach the last time she must have felt something break because she screamed "My baby". She finally used your sperm last month Booth and she was told just yesterday that she was pregnant. She was going to tell you tonight. Oh Booth, he beat her so bad. It's a miracle that she is still alive."

The nurse approached the bed. "I'm sorry but we need to take Mrs. Hodgins upstairs. She'll be in room 412. You can come with us Mr. Hodgins."

Booth backed away and went to look in the room where Brennan was being worked on. He could see that they were bundling her up to take her upstairs. Dr. Franklin came out to talk to everyone. He addressed himself to Brennan's father, Max Keenan.

"Mr. Keenan we are taking Dr. Brennan upstairs to surgery to repair her internal injuries. We don't know exactly what we will find. We know for sure that her left jaw is broken and a specialist will be taking care of that. Her nose is broken also. She must have been hit many times in the face because both of her eyes are swollen shut and the whole left side of her face is swollen because of the broken jaw. We don't know if she can still see because she hasn't regained consciousness yet. While we have her in surgery will be cleaning her up. I believe, what appeared to be a large loss of blood, was caused by the miscarriage. The surgeon will be checking her uterus to make sure that no tearing took place. If her reproductive organs are okay than there should be no reason why she can't conceive again of course well know more when they go in." The Doctor turned and looked directly at Booth. "I am guessing that your blood type is Rh positive. Is that correct?"

"Yes." Booth answered. "Why are you asking?"

"Dr. Brennan is RH negative and it's possible that the life of the fetus was being compromised by antibodies in Dr. Brennan's blood that was already starting to attack the fetus. The beating that she took must have broken through the barrier between the mother and the baby and the babies blood spilled into the mother's blood stream. Her body was already working overtime, because of what she was going through and it immediately started to attack the fetus. We've already given her an injection with a drug that will prevent her from having another miscarriage because of the Rh factor. You can come up to the waiting room outside of surgery if you want." A nurse came up behind the Doctor. He stepped aside for a few minutes.

"Mr. Booth, she has regained consciousness and is asking for you." The nurse told Booth. Dr Franklin had left to go back into the room.

Booth looked at both Max and Russ. Max just squeezed his arm and said "Go to her. We'll go upstairs and into the waiting room." Booth followed the nurse into the room.

As carefully as he could he picked up Brennan's hand. "Bones, it's me, Booth."

Brennan tried to open her eyes but they were so swollen she couldn't see his face. All she could see was a light. "Booth, I'm sorry." That was all she could get out. Her broken jaw made it hard for her to speak and they had given her something in preparation for her to go into surgery.

Booth was crying as he looked on her swollen face. "Shhhh….. Don't worry about anything but getting better. Your father and brother are here along with everyone else. Angela is okay, they just took her up into a room and Hodgins is with her."

The nurse put her hand on his shoulder and said "We have to take her to surgery now. You can wait for her in the waiting room with the rest.

Booth let her hand go and backed away. He took another elevator up to the 3rd floor where they had surgery and ICU. He followed the signs to the waiting room and sat down in one of the couches. Max came over and sat next to him. He waited until Booth could talk.

"She looks bad Max. When I picked up her hand she couldn't see me. I could just barely tell that her eyes were open. The first thing she said was 'Booth, I'm sorry'." Booth was crying now and he didn't care who saw him. Max put his hand on his back and just sat beside him. Cam had brought over a cup of coffee for Booth. Normally Angela would have been the one to give him comfort but since she couldn't be there Cam thought she would step in.

"Here Booth." Cam said as she handed the coffee to him and sat next to him in the spot that Max had vacated. After a few minutes Booth was able to get control of himself. He pulled out his handkerchief and blew his nose and wiped his tears away. He took the coffee from her and thanked her.

"Bones and I have talked about her putting herself in danger before." To Cam's surprise Booth was smiling. "The last time I gave even a hint that she should stay in the Lab she almost punched my lights out." After a few moments of silence he continued talking. "I don't know what happened last weekend, if she experienced an epiphany, a revelation or what but she finally has allowed herself to love me and to give our shared love a chance. When she came to my bedroom last Saturday night, I asked her if she was having trouble sleeping. Can you believe it that she actually wanted to have what she calls recreational sex so that she could fall asleep? I told her that for me, it wouldn't be just recreational sex, for me it would be making love and I asked her if she was giving herself to me. She sat up and actually said yes that she loved me just as much as I loved her."

"You know Brennan, Booth. If she didn't want to do something you wouldn't be able to make her. She's a strong minded woman and she is very lucky to have finally found someone that will accept her the way she is."

For the next several hours they all waited for any word about Dr. Brennan. Finally at 8:30 a man dressed in scrubs came out to talk to them. Everyone stood up as he came into the waiting room.

"Max Keenan?" The Doctor said to no one in particular.

"I'm Max Keenan." Max said as he walked over to the Doctor.

"Mr. Keenan, I'm Dr. Henderson. I operated on Dr. Brennan."

"How is she?" Booth asked.

"Dr. Brennan is doing okay. We were able to stop the bleeding. We cleaned her uterus out and as far as we could tell she hasn't sustained any permanent damage. All of her reproductive organs looked like they were intact. In cases like hers sometimes the ovaries separate from the fallopian tubes but hers looked okay. Her jaw is now wired shut. It will have to remain like that for a couple of weeks so that it can heal. Her jaw was not broken as we thought. The surgeon setting her jaw said that it was only pushed out of place. It has been reset and she should be okay once the wires are removed. Our biggest worry right now is her sight. Her eyes are still swollen shut. We are going to do some tests on her to see if any damage took place. We really won't know until tomorrow or the day after if she can still see. We just have to be patient and give her time to let the swelling go down. I'd advise you all to go home and get some sleep. Dr. Brennan, most likely, won't wake up until tomorrow." Max thanked him and the Doctor left.

Hodgins had walked in at the same time that Dr. Henderson started telling everyone how Brennan was doing.

"How is Angela Dr. Hodgins?" Cam asked when the surgeon had left.

They could tell that he had been crying. "She is sleeping right now. They gave her something to make her sleep a deep sleep until tomorrow afternoon. They want to keep her here until Monday then they'll release her. I am going home now and get some sleep." Jack went to stand in front of Booth.

"Thank you Booth, thank you for everything. Thank you for saving Angela for me." The two men shook hands then Booth pulled Jack into a hug. Everyone left then to go home. Sweets gave Booth and Hodgins a ride back to the FBI Headquarters where they had left their vehicles.

TBC…..


	9. Chapter 9

**REVELATIONS**

Chapter 9

Before leaving the hospital, Sweets had pulled Max Keenan to the side. Since Max had worked at the Jeffersonian for awhile he knew Sweets.

"Mr. Keenan, would it be possible for you to meet me some place where we could talk? If you want we could meet, either in my office, at the diner or wherever you feel comfortable."

"I can come to your office. Can you tell me what this is about?" Max asked.

"It's about Dr. Brennan. She has given me permission to talk to you about her childhood. Last weekend Dr. Brennan, Dr. Saroyan, Booth and I all went to spend the weekend at Dr. Hodgins home. While we were there last Saturday night Dr. Brennan and I had a talk and she has asked for my help. In order to help her I need to know some of the facts about her childhood. I know some of it but I need more information. I am sure that you know that when dealing with Dr. Brennan I have to be very accurate or she will look for any weak links. In some ways she has started to think like Booth which makes it harder to deal with her."

Max just smiled at him. "I know exactly what you mean. I'll call you to see when I can come over." They both joined the others as they crowded into the elevator.

**Booth's Apartment: Saturday 6 P.M.**

Booth didn't stop anyplace to get food as he had traveled home. He was too exhausted, both mentally and physically. He took care of three things before going to bed; hot shower, beer with leftover pizza and notifying Cullen. By the time he was through giving Cullen all of the information he currently had and finishing off the beer he was practically falling asleep with his face in the pizza. After his head finally hit the plate with the pizza in it he got up and turned everything off and fell into bed.

For the first 7 hours sleep he slept a deep, dreamless sleep. By the 8th hour his eyes under his eyelids started moving back and forth. His lungs started breathing more rapidly and his heart started to beat faster. He began to dream the same dream he had dreamed on Friday night except one more thing was added.

His dream took him through alleyway after alleyway and between tall buildings. As he ran through the forest of tall buildings he could hear Brennan calling for him. He ran and ran but he couldn't find her. Her screams became louder and louder. All at once his breathing slowed down. In his dream he had come to the end of the concrete forest and before him a prairie stretched out for miles.

In the distance he could see someone standing. He knew, with complete certainty that Brennan was there by this person. He started running as her screams became more distinct as he approached the figure standing in the middle of the prairie. Standing over Brennan was Ortiz. His penis was out of his pants and erect. He looked down at Brennan and saw all of the blood coming out from between her legs. On the ground he saw a tiny baby, lifeless and drained of all color. He looked up at Ortiz and could see that he had blood all over the front of his pants and his penis. Ortiz looked at him and started laughing.

With a jerk Booth sat up straight in his bed. He fell back on the bed crying. "Damn you Ortiz, you killed our baby, you killed our baby." Booth said over and over again as he beat his fist into the pillow. After 15 minutes of doing this Booth once again fell asleep and started the dream again. After waking up for the third time from the nightmare he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep anymore without dreaming the nightmare. He was soaked in sweat so he decided to take a shower and go and check on Brennan.

It was Sunday so he dressed to go to church and give thanks for Brennan's and Angela's safe return. By 2 in the afternoon he was walking into the hospital. He stopped at the receptionist on the first floor and asked about Brennan's room number. There seemed to be a problem in locating her because the receptionist had to call up to ICU. "Dr. Brennan has been moved from the ICU. She is now in room 415." The receptionist told him when she got off of the phone. He remembered that Angela was in 412 so he knew exactly where she was.

Booth entered 415 quietly in case Brennan was sleeping. When he stood next to her bed he could see that she was awake and appeared to be crying. "Bones."

The swelling of her eyes had gone down a little to the point that you could at least tell whether her eyes were open or not. Brennan reached up and wiped the tears from her face carefully. Through teeth that were wired shut she said "Booth?"

Her question scared him. "Can you see me Bones?" He made sure that he didn't touch her. He knew how many women were after they had been raped.

"Yes, although you're kind of fuzzy around the edges. My doctor said that should clear up in a day or two." She was quiet for awhile then she looked up at him.

"Are you angry with me?"

"Why would I be angry with you?"

"Because, I didn't tell you where I was going Friday night. I knew you would tell me I couldn't go because of it being in Little Salvador."

"We'll talk about that later when you are feeling better. Right now I want you to think about nothing other than getting better."

Booth was leaning against the hospital bed now. His hand was on the bed close to hers. To his surprise she reached for it.

"Booth, I know that they must have told you that I was pregnant and that I lost the baby." He could see her lower lip and chin were starting to quiver and the tears sprang forth as though a faucet had just been turned on. Booth didn't hesitate to take her into his arms since she had made the initial contact. They both let the tears break the boundaries that there stoic natures had set.

"It wasn't your fault Bones, it wasn't your fault. The beating you were taking caused the miscarriage. When we found you, you had a lot of blood pooling around you and on the floor. You're okay though; all of your baby making parts are still in tack."

Brennan continued to cry while Booth held her. Unconsciously he had started to rock her back and forth while rubbing her back with his right hand. "You don't have to worry about Ortiz any more Bones. He'll be put away for a long time now. He made a big mistake kidnapping you and Angela because you both work for the FBI."

"But we only work for the FBI because the Jeffersonian has a contract with them." Brennan said as she wiped away the steady flow of tears.

Booth pushed her back a little so he could look at her. "That doesn't make any difference, we still think of you as one of us. The district attorney will go hard on him and the rest of his gang that was involved. The Judge will make sure that they get the maximum sentence for what they did. It sends a message to all gang members that you don't mess with the FBI by going after its people. Even the local police department will lean on them more heavily. In a way were like the old time Mafia. Do you know what their most important rule was?"

Brennan just shook her head while wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

"You don't mess with our families." When he said that Brennan gave him a smile as best she could.

Booth had been beaten before so he knew how much it hurt her to give him even a little smile. He grabbed more Kleenex from the box on the bed table and gently wiped her eyes. He gave her more Kleenex so she could blow her nose.

He laid her back down on the bed. She was starting to fall asleep again. As Booth pulled his hand away from hers she opened her eyes again. "Don't leave me please. I always feel so much safer when you're with me."

"I'll stay until they push me out of the door." Booth said as he pulled a chair closer to the bed so he could sit down while still holding her hand. He could feel her holding on tight as though he was a life line. When he felt her hand relaxing its hold on his he put his head on the edge of the bed and fell asleep also.

While Brennan and Booth were sleeping Hodgins had come to visit with his wife. When he arrived he passed by Brennan's room and looked in. He saw Booth holding onto Dr. Brennan while she cried. He quickly backed out of the room and went to Angela's room. She was sleeping so he just pulled a chair over to the bed where he could hold her hand while she slept.

Hodgins had called Angela's father yesterday to let him know what had happened. Hodgins didn't want to admit it but he found the guy to be very scary. Since he wore sun glasses all of the time Hodgins could never tell what he was thinking. Every time that he saw her father it made him think of the guard in "Cool Hand Luke" with Paul Newman. The guy's sun glasses were like mirrors. Hodgins gave an involuntary shudder just thinking about it. He hoped that her father had come already.

Since Angela was still sleeping he leaned against the bed and fell asleep also. Even though he had gotten a full 8 hours of sleep he was still tired since he had been awake for the previous 48 hours while they looked for the women.

Angela started dreaming about being raped. While she was tied they forced her to watch as Ortiz beat Brennan. When he started hitting her in the stomach and she heard Brennan call out that he was killing her baby she woke up screaming and calling out Brennan's name. She felt someone's hands on her and she started fighting to make them let go of her.

Jack got up when he heard Angela scream. A nurse came running into her room also and helped Hodgins to hold her down. She still had needles in her arm and her thrashing about could tear them out or cause them to break inside her arm. They could hear her screaming all the way down to the Nurses station so another nurse came in with a tranquilizer. It wasn't needed though because as Angela started to realize where she was and that Jack was by her side she reached for him and started crying.

Angela's scream had awakened both Brennan and Booth. "That sounded like Angela." Brennan said.

"It was her room is close by." Booth said. He didn't want to leave her side to investigate what was wrong.

"Go see if she's alright." Brennan said. Booth hesitated for a moment then went to Angela's room.

He found Hodgins and a nurse restraining Angela. It was apparent that she had just awakened from a nightmare and didn't know where she was. After seeing that she was doing okay he went back to Brennan.

He got back just in time to see Brennan attempting to get out of the bed. "Where do you think you're going missy?"

"I have to go to the bathroom." Booth looked around the bed and found a urine bag hanging from the rail.

"You don't need to get up they have a catheter in you." Booth pushed her back down and covered her up again.

Her only reply was "Oh."

A few minutes of awkward silence passed before she spoke again. "Is Angela okay?"

"Yes, she must have had a nightmare because when I got there Hodgins and a nurse were holding her down. As soon as she realized where she was, I guess, she stopped fighting them."

"It's all my fault that she was raped also. I am always so confident in being able to protect myself. If I wasn't so full of pride in my own abilities I never would have gone to the book store without telling you. Now I've lost our baby and I've gotten Angela raped also." The tears started to fall again. She had been crying so much that she had a headache.

Booth decided to tell her about something in his own past that he hoped would help her feel better.

"Bones, when I went on my first mission to kill someone I was like you. I had won several ribbons for my abilities as a sniper while I was in training and after. I was so full of pride in my own abilities that I didn't see the point in endangering someone else's life and I talked him into staying behind. Your partner, who is the spotter, is not only there to help you with calculating the distance of the target or the wind speed or anything else that influences hitting the target but they are also there to watch your back. Just like you and I watch each other's back when one of us is concentrating on something. My pride almost cost me my life and I could have failed in completing the mission. When I was about to pull the trigger someone snuck up behind me and put a bullet into my back. The bullet just missed my heart. Even though I had been hit I was still able to pull the trigger and hit my target. After putting another bullet in me he left me for dead and I presume he left to report that he had killed the sniper. I was still conscious though and was just barely able to make it to the pickup point. While I lay in the hospital for two weeks I blamed myself for almost failing in completing the mission because of my own pride. I never forgot that lesson Bones and I don't think that you will either. You're an intelligent woman and you know what you did wrong so we won't say anything more about it."

Sweets had been standing in the doorway and had heard everything. He backed out of the room when he heard Booth end his story and tell Brennan that they wouldn't discuss whose fault it was anymore. He stood closer to the entrance and knocked on the door. "Dr. Brennan it's Dr. Sweets, can I come in?"

Booth turned around and saw Sweets. "Come in Sweets."

"How are you doing Dr. Brennan?"

"I've been better."

In the next minute a nurse and orderly came in with a cart full of medical supplies and towels. Booth and Sweets backed away from the bed so they could go to the side of the bed.

"How are you feeling this morning Dr. Brennan?" Brennan saw the nurse's nametag on her blouse but she still couldn't see it well enough to read it.

"I'm sore all over. Can you take this catheter out? It's very uncomfortable."

"Yes we can do that. I am going to change your bandage also. But first I want to ask you if you would like for Francis to give you a sponge bath or would you like to try and get up so you can take a shower?"

"I would like to take a shower."

"Okay then would you gentlemen please step out for awhile while we take care of Dr. Brennan? As soon as she's back in the bed either Francis or I will come and get you."

Both Sweets and Booth stepped out at the Nurses request.

"Have you had lunch yet?" Booth asked Sweets.

"No, do you want to go to the cafeteria?"

"Yes, let's go to the cafeteria here and bring back something to eat. I want to pick up something for Bones to eat also." Booth asked someone at the Nurses station for directions to the cafeteria and they left.

After they came back with their food they sat in the waiting room and waited for someone to let them know they were done with Brennan. Within 10 minutes the orderly, Francis, came out and told them they could go into Dr. Brennan's room. She was looking much better now and her hair was up in a pony tail.

"I smell food. Did you bring me anything?" In response to Brennan's question Booth pulled over the table and laid out the contents of the two bags he was carrying along with two cups of coffee. Sweets took one of the chairs on the opposite side of the bed and took out his food and started to eat.

"I brought you a garden burger and fries along with two pudding cups and coffee." Booth said as he pulled out a large cheese burger and fries. He sat down on the side of the bed carefully and started on his own food.

Sweets was silent throughout their lunch. He just watched and observed Dr. Brennan. He was happy to see that she was allowing Booth to be near her and to touch her. Rape victims rarely wanted any man to touch them or even be near them.

Towards the end of the meal Hodgins came over to see Dr. Brennan. "Hello everyone, Dr. Brennan, how are you doing?"

"I'm feeling a lot better today. How is Angela?"

"She's doing a lot better also. She would like to see you. Is it okay if I bring her over here?"

"Yes, please bring her over."

Hodgins left and came back a few minutes later pushing Angela in a wheel chair. As soon as they saw each other they started crying. Angela got up from the wheel chair and hugged Brennan.

Sweets got up and signaled for Booth and Hodgins to follow him. He stopped and turned to them when they arrived at the waiting room.

"You both understand that it is going to take them both a long time to get over this." Both Booth and Hodgins nodded.

"The more they can be with each other the better it will be for them. They'll turn to each other and help each other get through this horrible ordeal that they shared. They really shouldn't be left alone for too long for at least the first week." Sweets said as they all sat down.

"I have an idea as to how we can do this without looking to obvious. I've wanted to have some work done on the estate for a long time, the bedrooms especially. As a surprise to Angela I've been talking to an architect about updating the master suite. Ever since Angela and I have been sleeping together we've been keeping the help awake." Hodgins face turned a bright red when he saw Booth and Sweets smiling.

"It's not what you think either. When my great great grandfather had the house built he didn't have a lot of money since he was just starting to build his wealth. To make a long story short, each generation has added on to the house but no one ever updated the interior of the house. I've been planning for a long time to do that and I think that this will be the perfect opportunity. I'll ask Dr. Brennan if we can stay with her because the servants are going to stay in the cottages that we have in the back by the pool. That will give them time to be together and it will give them something to keep their minds busy with until they come back to work. What do you think?"

"That sounds good Hodgins. Of course you both know that you'll be in dry dock for awhile. Don't push them about having sex. Let them make the initial move. You're both lucky that they reached out for you. Usually rape victims can't stand to have a man even touch them at first." Sweets told the two men.

"Yeah, we get a short psychology course during training at Quantico. Although I put my hand close to Bones' hand I didn't touch her. I let her make the first move and was surprised when she reached for my hand."

"That's good. I am going to set up appointments for Dr. Brennan and Angela with a specialist in treating rape victims. Dr. Brennan may give me an argument on it but I'll make it mandatory if she wants to go out into the field with you again Booth. Am I correct that Angela goes home tomorrow Dr. Hodgins?"

"Yes, they wanted to keep her one more night."

"Okay then, I'll call you to give you the time, and date of Angela's first appointment. I think I'll go now and give you time alone with them." Dr. Sweets turned and went back to the elevators so the two men could talk about what they were going to do.

TBC….


	10. Chapter 10

REVELATION

Chapter 10

When Booth and Hodgins went back into Brennan's room they found the women talking about what they went through. They could easily see that both of the women had been doing some heavy crying.

"Booth should be very proud of you Brennan. I watched you as you put down 4 men before they were able to get control of you. When you are able to go back to that martial arts school of yours I want to go also. If I had been able to fight like you did maybe we would have been able to get out of there." Angela was sitting in her wheel chair and holding Brennan's hand while they talked. "I don't ever want to feel that vulnerable again."

Booth approached Brennan's bed and went to the other side so he could hold her hand.

"I am proud of her Angela." Booth looked into Brennan's eyes as he talked. "It took a lot of guts to even attempt to stand up to so many men. There were so many men in that room that even I couldn't have gotten out." Booth could see that Brennan's eyes were starting to droop.

"I think we should leave Bones alone for awhile so she can get some rest." He bent over and gave her a light kiss on her forehead. "I'll be back this evening, okay?"

"Okay." Brennan said as she closed her eyes. She was sleeping before they even made it out of the room. Hodgins took Angela back into her room and helped her to get into bed again. All of the crying her and Brennan had done had made her tired as well and she fell asleep after a few minutes. Jack came out and joined Booth who was in the waiting room with two other men in suites.

"What has been done with Ortiz and his men?" Booth asked one of the men. He saw Jack come over to join them. As Hodgins approached he saw that one of the men was John Hopkins.

"So far they have just been put through the process and given their prison garb. Of course the next step is for Dr. Brennan and Mrs. Hodgins to identify them as their attackers. Plus we need their statement as to what exactly happened." Hopkins said.

"They are both asleep right now. My wife will be released from the hospital tomorrow. You can come over to my home tomorrow afternoon at 3. We should be home by then."

"Okay, we can do that. What about Dr. Brennan?" John asked.

"I think you better wait until tomorrow also. She just went to sleep. I think she's still a little spaced out from the anesthesia." Booth said.

"Can you give me your home address Dr. Hodgins?" Hodgins pulled out a Jeffersonian business card and wrote his home address on it and gave it to John.

"I'll let the guard know that you are coming tomorrow. Just identify yourself and tell them I am expecting you."

The two agents left then and Hodgins and Booth left for the afternoon.

Later in the evening they both returned at almost the same time. Booth saw Jack helping Angela to walk around a little. He smiled at them as he walked by and went into Brennan's room. He stopped at the doorway when he saw a stranger standing by her bed. A woman that he had never seen before was talking quietly to Brennan about what she had gone thru. Neither of the women saw Booth so he quietly backed out and went over to the waiting room. Thirty minutes later the woman walked out and stood by the nurse's desk. She pulled out her cell phone and was talking on it for awhile. While she was busy on the phone he got up and walked over to Brennan's room.

"How are you doing?" Booth asked her as he approached her bed. He gave her a kiss on the forehead as he held onto her hand. He took a good look at her this time. He could see that most of the swelling around her eyes had gone down so that you could clearly see her eyes. Her jaw was still swollen and black and blue. Ortiz must have been wearing a sizable ring also because now that some of the swelling had gone down he could clearly see the mark of a ring just above and to the right of her eye. His ring also left a mark just below her left ear. He figured that the same hit that left the mark of the ring on her jaw also probably dislocated it.

As he examined her more closely he could feel his anger at Ortiz making his face become red with anger. When he heard Brennan speak it helped to bring him out of his current dangerous thoughts.

"Physically, I am doing much better. If you would assist me I think I would like to take a short walk down the hall and back." Brennan said. Her eyesight was still a little blurry so she couldn't see how red Booth's face had become. She pushed back the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Booth noticed that all of the needles had been taken out of her arms.

"Are you sure you should get up so soon?" Booth asked as he helped her to stand and put her robe on.

"Yes, the nurse has already told me that I had to get up and take a short walk today. I told her that I would ask you to help me this evening." Brennan said as she held onto Booth's arm as he slowly started to walk out into the hallway.

"Who was that woman you were talking to a moment ago?"

"She is a psychiatrist that Sweets sent over. She specializes in treating rape victims. I told her that I didn't need her. I am sure that she has already called Dr. Sweets and told him how obstinate I was. If Sweets talks to you first tell him that my talks with Angela are helping us both and I don't believe we will need any therapy. If we need to talk to anyone well call him."

Booth could tell that it would be a waste of time to try and talk her into talking to someone other than Angela. He had seen enough rape victims to know that, even though she didn't want to admit it, Brennan and Angela would benefit from a few sessions with a specifically trained psychiatrist. One of the biggest side effects of being raped was the feeling of guilt. The woman often felt that in some way the rape was her fault and if they didn't feel like it after the rape, the justice system would often be successful in making them feel it. Brennan had already told Booth that she was sorry for what had happened and that it was her fault for what happened to Angela and herself. He knew that sooner or later that compartment that she would push these feelings into would burst at the seams. He only hoped that he would be there when it happened.

After a short walk over to the Nurse's station Booth could tell that Brennan was starting to tire because she had stopped talking and was leaning on him more heavily. He managed to get her back to the bed before she could collapse. He had to help her to get into the bed and cover her up. One of the nurses had seen them and came over to check on Brennan.

"How are you doing Dr. Brennan?" The nurse asked as she checked her vital signs on the monitors and made a notation on her chart that she had brought with her.

"I'm hurting a little but I am guessing that is because of the surgery."

"Yes, but you're doing fine for your first walk. Tomorrow we'll get you up in the morning and perhaps Agent Booth can walk you a little further. If you continue doing as well as you are perhaps your Doctor will let you go home in another day or two."

"That would be nice." Brennan said and smiled at the nurse as she left.

Hodgins came in when the nurse left. He went over to the other side of the bed. "You're looking a little better today Dr. Brennan. I can easily see your eyes again."

"Yes the swelling is almost completely gone now. My eyesight is still a little blurry but the Doctors assured me that they would return to their normal acuity within a few days."

"Anyone ask you to autograph any of your books yet?" Hodgins asked.

"Yes, I've signed five so far, including one from the administrator of the hospital."

"Apparently your quit the celebrity here. Right now though I need to ask a favor of you, I am having the mansion remodeled and brought up to the current building codes. I would like to know if we could stay with you for a couple of months while the remodeling is going on."

"Of course you can stay with me. I have two extra bedrooms that you can use." Brennan said without hesitation.

"Good, I'll let Angela know. We'll move in as soon as you go home. I don't want Angela to have to put up with all of the workers. Plus I'll be letting the servants know that they can start their paid vacations."

"Why don't you just take Angela over to my apartment tomorrow and you can move your clothes over on Tuesday, Booth has a key to my apartment and he can let you in. They will probably let me go home either Tuesday or Wednesday."

"Are you sure that you won't mind us being there without you."

"No, not at all, it will be nice to have someone there when I go home. Besides it will be good for Angela and me to have each other to talk to." Brennan looked down and kept her hands busy with folding the top of the sheets down flat. "Besides I am sure that you will now be able to report back to Dr. Sweets that I accepted your subterfuge quiet willingly." She looked back up at him with a smile.

Hodgins' face turned red. He didn't think that Brennan would figure out their secret plan so easily. "You've been hanging around Booth too much. I'll see you tomorrow." Hodgins said as he left.

Booth laughed at Hodgins. "I knew you would figure out what he was doing right away."

Brennan tried to smile but it hurt too much. She put her hand up to her cheek and said "Don't make me laugh, it hurts too much."

Booth smiled at her and held her hand gently. She looked at their joined hands then looked up into his eyes when he didn't say anything. She could see tears starting to pool at the bottom of his eyes. As he blinked one tear found its way down the side of his nose and then down the side of his mouth. He wiped it away with the back of his hand.

"I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you Temperance. I love you more than words could begin to describe. The only example that I could give you to make you understand how much I love you is to tell you that it is the same as when my son was born."

Brennan scooted over as far as she could and patted the bed next to her. "Do you think you could fit up here?"

Booth took his jacket and shoes off then climbed up on the bed next to her. He was careful not to disturb any of the wires they had attached to her. He put his arm under her head and she scooted further down the bed so that she could place her head under his arm and against his chest. For the first time since she was beaten and raped she felt safe. She knew that she had made a terrible mistake in not telling Booth where she was going Friday night. She admitted to herself that it was only because of her pride that she hadn't told him. She also promised herself that she would investigate the strange word that he had given to her on a plaque that he himself had nailed to the wall in her office. He told her that he had ordered it special for her so that she would see it every day and maybe finally practice it. The word on the plaque, in big bold, gold letters was HUMILITY.

She told herself 'I am a very intelligent woman and I can do anything I set my mind to'. She laughed at herself out loud.

"What are you laughing at?" Booth asked her as he kissed the top of her head. It had been a long time since he had heard her laugh.

"Just something that I was thinking to myself."

"What was it?"

"I was just thinking that I wouldn't have gotten Angela and myself into so much trouble if I hadn't been too proud to tell you where I was going. I told myself that I had to start practicing humility, like you tell me all of the time. I told myself that I am a very intelligent woman and I can do anything once I set my mind to it. I laughed when I realized that I had already failed in my attempt to be more humble."

He laughed at what she said and it helped to lighten his mood. He held her more tightly to his side and kissed her head again. "You'll do it Bones. Like you said, you can do anything you set your mind to. If I see you fail at it too often I'll get you a bigger plaque with the word HUMILITY on it so that it will always get your attention."

She looked up at him and kissed him lightly on the lips. He knew her jaw would hurt if he pressed her lips with his so he just accepted what she gave. They both closed their eyes and went to sleep.

They didn't wake up again until the supper tray had been brought over by an orderly.

"Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth, I have your supper."

Booth woke up and slid off of the bed. He took the tray from the orderly and thanked him. They had given them four cups of pudding, a large bowl of cherry jello and a thick broth for Brennan since she couldn't open her jaws to chew. Even though Booth could have gone to the cafeteria to get something decent to eat he chose not to make her suffer anymore by making her watch him eat something good so he just ate the pudding and he thought he would get something on the way home.

"You can go and get something from the cafeteria Booth. I won't mind, besides I don't feel like having anything more than this." Brennan said as she carefully drank the broth.

"That's okay, I'll pick up something on the way home. Tomorrow night I'll bring you something from our favorite Chinese restaurant and a large milkshake. You like chocolate, right?"

"Oh yes, that sounds good."

They ate in silence for awhile then Booth turned the TV on. Both of their minds were busy on other things and neither one was interested in what was on.

Brennan was the first one to break the silence. "What has been happening with Ortiz?" She asked in almost a whisper.

"They were all brought up before a judge yesterday to have the charges read and bail set. The youngest of the group was a young kid of fourteen and he was sent to juvenile court. He had told Hopkins that he was sent outside when the others started to rape you and Angela. He said that he was supposed to watch out for the police. After the arraignment Hopkins told me that before the arraignment he talked to the judge and told him that the boy had seen the FBI coming but he chose not to say anything and in fact assisted them in entering the building. The boy could have been tried as an adult but because he helped us the Judge told Hopkins that he would send him to Juvenile court."

"Has a date been set for the trial yet?"

"Yes, the judge set it for 2 months from yesterday. Do you think you'll be able to testify by then?" Booth held her hand and watched her expression carefully. He was surprised when without hesitation she answered with a yes.

"What about Angela?" Booth asked.

"What about her?"

"Do you think that she'll be able to testify if they want to put her on the stand?"

"I believe I heard you describe her once as "a little spitfire". You don't have to worry about her, Booth. Hodgins will have a problem holding her back though if Ortiz's lawyer tries to blame it on me. Did you know that she almost took one of her attacker's eye out with her nails?"

"No, I had most of my attention on you when we rescued you. The only person that I actually took a good look at was Ortiz. I almost went after him but Hopkins stopped me. He talked to me for a few moments until I regained my sanity. By then Hodgins told me that they were taking you and Angela to the hospital."

Brennan looked at her partner. She felt a warm feeling in her chest for him. Her mind told her that it was just the adrenalin and various other chemicals that were creating the heat.

Dr. Temperance Brennan had another revelation at that moment. She thought to herself, 'I finally understand what Angela and Booth have been trying to make me understand. First there must be love to trigger this chemical reaction, without it there can be no physical reaction. This is why I didn't go with Sully'.

TBC…


	11. Chapter 11

REVELATION

Chapter 11

The next day Booth couldn't make it into the hospital in the morning to see Brennan because of a new case that he had been given by Cullen himself. He called her up to let her know that he would see her in the evening and that Cam had given him Wendell to work with. Since Hodgins was picking up Angela today he gave him Brennan's key so he could take some of their clothes over to her apartment before he brought his wife over.

Before Angela and Hodgins left they went over to see Brennan. Her Doctor was in her room so they had to wait a few minutes until he came out. As soon as they saw him leave Hodgins pushed Angela's wheel chair into the room. "Good morning Sweetie. I wanted to come over and say goodbye before we left. When are they going to let you go home?" Angela asked.

"My Doctor said that I was recovering nicely and I could go home tomorrow but I had to take it easy for the next two weeks at least. Have you moved your things into my apartment yet?"

"Yeah, I took some of our clothes over this morning so that we could have something to wear. If you don't mind Dr. Brennan I am going to hire a practical nurse to stay with you two while I'm at work." Hodgins asked as he took a seat in a chair on the other side of Brennan's bed.

"That won't be necessary Jack; I've already hired someone for the next two weeks. I was told that I couldn't do any bending for at least the next week and I'll need someone to help me with the bandages and so forth. I was told by the head nurse on this floor that they have a group of nurses that do part time work taking care of patients at their homes. I've already talked to two of them and one of them will be coming home with me tomorrow. Her name is Nancy Fredrick, the other one is Theresa Milner. Mrs. Fredrick will be coming home with me on Tuesday and Ms. Milner will take over Saturday if Booth can't come over."

"Okay then we will be moving over this evening, if that's alright with you? Since Booth has a new case I have to be back at work on Tuesday morning. Mrs. Davis, our cook, is going to go over to your apartment in the morning and stay with Angela and do the cooking until you are released."

"That's fine Jack. Tell Mrs. Davis that she will have to bring the kind of food you eat since I am a vegetarian. I only buy meat when Booth is going to be with me for meals."

"I already checked out your refrigerator and I had to throw some things out that had gone bad. I'll bring something for us to eat tonight and tomorrow morning. I'll see you tomorrow. Let's go Angela and let Dr. Brennan get some rest." Hodgins told his wife.

"Are you're going to be alright Sweetie?"

"Yes, I think so. I asked Sweets to stop by today. I told him that I wanted to continue to have our sessions on the subject that I told you he was going to help me with."

"Okay, be good so that you can come home tomorrow. Goodbye." Angela said as Jack wheeled her out.

Brennan turned the television on and tried to concentrate on the movie that was currently on. Her mind started to wander though and before she knew it she was reliving the rape again. After crying for the next 15 minutes she fiercely wiped her tears away. 'I have to stop dwelling on this or I'll never be able to get over it', she told herself. She was now starting to force the experience into a small box in her mind where it wouldn't constantly assault her thoughts.

Booth had brought over a writing pad for her to use if she wanted to make notes on thoughts she may come up with for her current novel. She had tried to get him to bring her laptop but he said that it would be bad for her eyes since her eyesight hadn't returned to normal yet.

Brennan had just started to develop a story line for her new novel and was just in the basic planning stage. She had been sitting and staring out the window trying to come up with an idea when Sweets knocked on her door.

"Dr. Brennan, may I come in?" He watched her eyes light up at the sight of him.

"Yes, yes, please come in. I was just trying to come up with an idea for my new novel. Please come and have a seat."

He was surprised at her reaction to him. 'She must be bored out of her skull to be so happy to see me.'

"How are you doing today?" Sweets asked.

"Much better, thank you for asking, my eyesight has improved to the point that I can see people's faces more clearly. I don't have to wait for them to say something before I can tell who it is."

"How are you sleeping? Are you still having nightmares?"

"How did you know I was having nightmares?"

"Booth told me that every time he is with you when you're sleeping you wake up screaming and crying."

Brennan turned away from him. She didn't want him to see the tears threatening to spill over. After a few minutes she felt she could control herself better.

Sweets waited for her to say something.

Brennan continued to look out of the window when she began to speak. "You know how you are always saying that I compartmentalize everything?"

"Yes, I remember. Are you trying to do that with the memory of what you went through?"

"Yes, but I'm not being very successful. When I am awake and busy talking or listening to someone I can more successfully put those thoughts away and ignore them. When I am sleeping or I am alone though they leak out of that box and seem to consume my every thought and populate my dreams. I want to go back to work as soon as possible so that I can keep my mind busy so that I won't think about it anymore."

Sweets leaned forward in his chair so that he could more clearly hear her. "That isn't a good thing to do Dr. Brennan. You need to confront what happened to you, bring it out into the light of day, examine it and inspect it. Look at it like it was a body that had been found. See it as a body that is lying on the steel table in your lab. Inspect every square inch of it for any marks. Only after doing this can you safely and securely store the remains of this nightmare into a box that you will be able to close tightly."

"I don't think I can do that yet. I know that I will have to testify at the trial so I've been trying to remember everything. I think that the heroin they gave us is what is making it hard for me to remember. When I try thinking about it, it's like looking at it through a fog. I can remember everything clearly up until they gave us the heroin. Sometimes I get a headache just trying to remember it."

"Do you think you might be trying to suppress the memories?"

"Maybe, I don't know. Angela has told me that she remembers everything, even as to how many men had their turn it her. She said that when she remembers what happened….it's like looking at everything in slow motion. She even remembers what the men, that were holding her down, looked like."

"Everyone is affected by drugs in a different way. I've talked to her about the rape and she said that she smoked marijuana when she was in college, but she hasn't had any in a long time. She thinks she remembers more of what the men looked like because she is an artist and is more inclined to observe peoples features more closely."

Brennan smiled at her memories of Angela trying to get her to try some of the marijuana when the people in her dorm were having a party. "I never could see the logic of using mind altering drugs. I drink more now than I used to though. Booth and I usually celebrate the closing of a case with a few drinks."

Sweets thought he would take a chance and pull the conversation back onto her rape. "Are you afraid that Booth won't want you anymore as a sexual partner now that you've been violated by so many men?"

"No, Booth doesn't think like that. Besides he has taken classes in how to handle rape cases and the psychological effect that rape has on a woman. He is being very careful with me and always waits for me to make the initial contact."

Brennan was quiet for a few minutes. "I don't think I would want to live if he was to reject me."

Sweets was surprised by her statement. "Do you feel that your parents and brother rejected you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I know that it isn't logical but I feel that they must have seen or felt that there was something wrong with me and wanted to get away from me because of it."

"Do you still feel like that even after your father explained to you why they had to leave you and your brother?"

"Like I said, I know it isn't logical, but I can't get rid of this feeling. With Booth I feel more secure in the knowledge that we have been together through so much and we never abandon each other when we're in a crisis. We always watch each other's back and support each other through good times and bad times. I've cried on his shoulder many times and he has even cried on mine a couple of times."

Sweets waited again to see if she would continue.

"I would like to ask your father and brother to come over to your apartment tomorrow so that we could discuss what was going through their minds when they decided to leave you. They aren't releasing you until tomorrow, right?"

"Yes."

"I am going to see if your father and brother can meet over at your apartment at 4 in the afternoon. Would you like Booth to be there also?"

"I don't know if he'll be able to make it. He has a new case he's working on with Wendell. If he can make it, then yes I would like for him to be there."

"Before I leave Dr. Brennan I would like to ask you about something that seems to have changed with the way you think about Booth."

Brennan just looked at him and smiled. "You're curious about my willingness to take a chance with having a personnel relationship with Booth."

"Yes."

"When Booth stopped by to see me yesterday we had a conversation about what happened at the hearing Saturday. During the conversation he told me how he reacted when the medics were taking care of Angela and I. He said that Ortiz caught his eye and he started to go after him but Agent Hopkins had stopped him. He said that Hopkins had to push him up against the wall to make him listen to him because he could see that Booth had lost his ability to think clearly. When he told me that, I guess you could say that I had an epiphany. At that moment I felt a warm feeling in my chest. At first I thought it was nothing but the chemical reaction I was having when I heard what Booth had almost done. I believe I had what is called a revelation. I suddenly understood that love had to exist first in order for the chemical reaction to take place. At that moment I understood what Booth and Angela have been trying to make me understand."

"Then do you understand why or how your father and mother could leave you as they did?"

"I haven't even thought about that yet. My mind is too busy thinking about the rape." Brennan rubbed her eyes carefully.

"Okay Dr. Brennan. I am going to leave now but before I leave I want you to consider something for awhile, it will give you something else to think about. Is it possible that your mother and father could have loved you and your brother so much that they were willing to never see you again in order to keep you and your brother safe?"

Sweets turned and left without saying anything more. He stopped at the nurse's station and asked if Dr. Brennan's physician had prescribed any sleeping drugs for her.

The nurse checked Dr. Brennan's chart and saw that her Doctor had prescribed something to make her sleep if she had a problem. "Yes he has but it was to be given only if she was having trouble sleeping."

"Okay, I am Dr. Brennan's psychiatrist. I want you to give her some medication tonight so that she can have a full nights rest. I believe she is having a hard time sleeping because of the rape. She's trying to remember everything that happened during the rape so that she will be able to give a statement to the police and when the men that did this to her and Mrs. Hodgins go to trial. Thank You."

As Sweets left he saw Booth getting off of the elevator with a man and a woman.

"Hey Sweets, have you been talking to Bones?" Booth asked.

"Yes I have. Are you two here to get Dr. Brennan's statement?" Sweets addressed the other two agents.

"Yes, Dr. Sweets, how are you doing?" Special Agent Hopkins said as he shook Sweets hand since they knew each other no introduction was needed. When Hopkins let go of Sweets hand he turned toward the woman and said "this is Agent Denise Rodgers."

Agent Rodgers shook Sweets hand and smiled at him.

"May I ask how she is doing today?" Hopkins asked.

"Not too bad. Don't push her though or she might lose her temper and say something that will make your head spin around." Sweets smiled at the two Agents.

"I suggest that Agent Rodgers do most of the questioning. Try to hang back a little Agent Hopkins, don't crowd her. Stay close to her Booth; she is starting to compartmentalize things. I've already talked to her about it and told her that she needs to put it out on the labs steel table and examine everything closely just like she would do with a skeleton."

Sweets looked directly at Booth. "If we let her compartmentalize the rape too soon she will have a nervous breakdown sooner or later because it will not go away if she tries to push it into a box that she thinks she can lock away. Just like a body that has been found in a container after a long time, the decomposing body will start to leak out a little at a time until it bursts the seams of the container.

"She doesn't have Angela to talk to everyday anymore. Angela was good for Dr. Brennan because she made her talk about the rape. I think that Angela is handling the whole thing a lot better than Dr. Brennan."

"Why is that?" Booth asked.

"Because Angela is mad at the men that raped her just as Dr. Brennan is, the difference between them is that she expresses her anger, whereas Dr. Brennan doesn't. Just to let you know Booth I will be seeing her tomorrow at her apartment but I'll be bringing her father and brother also. If you can make it Dr. Brennan has asked for you to be there also. Goodbye." Sweets left and headed FBI Headquarters and make calls to Dr. Brennan's father and brother.

Booth led the way into Bone's room. He raised his hand up to let Hopkins and Rodgers know they were to wait outside of the room while he checked on whether Bones was ready to accept visitors.

"Hey Bones, are you up to receiving visitors right now?"

Brennan looked up as soon as she heard Booth's voice. "Yes, come in." She said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"What's wrong, did Sweets upset you?"

"Yes but it was only on something that I needed. Don't concern yourself with it any further. Do you have someone else with you?" Booth signaled to the two agents to come in.

"Yes, Special Agent John Hopkins and Agent Denise Rodgers. They have come to get your statement." Booth introduced them and each one stepped forward and shook Brennan's hand.

"Are you up to this Dr. Brennan?" Agent Rodgers asked.

"Yes I'm ready. I've been thinking about it and trying to remember everything. Go ahead and ask your questions." Brennan said as she pulled herself up straighter and busied her hands with straightening and smoothing out the sheet and blanket. Booth went to the other side of the bed and pulled a chair up closer so that he could sit and hold her hand if she needed him.

As Sweets had suggested, Agent Rodgers started with the questions after pulling out a recorder and placing it on the table that went over the hospital bed. She said her name and Hopkins name along with the date and time.

"Dr. Temperance Brennan, will you please tell us what happened to you on Friday and Saturday of last week."

Brennan proceeded to recount the events that led up to Angela's and her rape by the Salvadoran gang. When she came to the actual rape she stopped. Tears started to gather at the corner of her eyes. Booth offered his hand to her and she grabbed on to it and held on tightly.

Hopkins and Rodgers looked at each other. Hopkins knew that Rodgers was wondering if they should continue. He nodded his head in encouragement. Rodgers looked back to Brennan.

"Dr. Brennan, would you like to take a break?"

"No, I want to get this over with."

"You said that Ortiz was beating you after his men were able to restrain you."

"Yes, he repeatedly struck my face and stomach. By the 5th time that he hit my stomach I felt a sharp pain. I was afraid that his beatings had caused me to have a miscarriage. Because of the pain and my concern for the fetus I remember crying out 'My baby'. My eyes were already swelling from the beating so I couldn't see his face, but I could swear that I could hear him laughing." Brennan felt Booth hold her hand tighter as he put his head down to hide his own tears.

After a few minutes she was able to continue. "After he hit me a few more times my knees gave out and if it wasn't for the men holding onto me I would have collapsed to the floor. I heard Ortiz walk away and tell the men to strip my clothes off and put me on the table. He told the others holding onto Angela to do the same to her. He told one of his men to give us some heroin so that we wouldn't resist them any further. I could hear them starting to take Angela's clothes off but she was fighting back. I heard a man cry out in pain than I think they knocked her out. She told me later on that she had scratched one of the men's face and had missed one of his eyes by only a fraction of an inch. The next thing I knew they had me on a cold metal table and they had given me a shot of the heroin. In my weakened state I was very susceptible to the drug and it overtook me very fast. The last thing I remember clearly was Ortiz standing at the end of the table and two of the other men holding my legs up and apart. I felt him enter me. He did it so hard that I could easily feel the blood coming out as he would withdraw then push in harder. Just before I lost consciousness I knew with complete certainty that his actions had killed the fetus."

"You said before that you could hardly see because he had hit you in the face so many times."

"Yes." Brennan said as she wiped her tears and blew her nose.

"If you couldn't see then how did you know that it was Ortiz forcing himself on you?" Agent Rodgers asked.

Brennan took a minute to answer. "He repeated something he said to me when we were interrogating him at FBI headquarters, 'I told you that a bitch like you just needed a man like me to teach you how to behave. The beating was the beginning of the lesson and now I am completing the lesson'. Then he slammed into me so hard that it pushed me back up the table a little."

"Do you remember how many other men had their turn at you?"

"I vaguely remember 4 or 5 more men. I think I was going in and out of consciousness. I do remember some of the men roughly grabbing my breasts and biting and sucking on them real hard. The next thing I knew I felt Booth putting his jacket over me and calling for the paramedics."

"Thank you Dr. Brennan. This will help us put Ortiz and his men away for a long time. Get some rest now." Agent Rodgers gently put her hand on Dr. Brennan's and gave it a light squeeze. She put the recorder back into her purse and she walked out with Hopkins following her.

Booth got up and sat on the side of the bed and just held Brennan while she cried her eyes out. After almost 30 minutes she finally fell asleep in his arms and he gently laid her back down and covered her carefully with the blanket. Before he left he gave her a light kiss on her forehead.

TBC…


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Tuesday 11 AM: Hospital

Booth approached Brennan's hospital room. He knew that she was determined to go home today and wouldn't want to waste time waiting for him. He stopped at her room and knocked on the door. In another minute a woman came to the door. When she opened it he asked "I'm here to pick up Dr. Brennan, is she still going home today?"

"Yes she is we are just finishing up with getting her dressed. She should be ready in 10 minutes." The woman closed the door and went back to helping Dr. Brennan.

Booth was wearing a big grin now that he knew everything was alright. When he saw the door closed several things started going through his mind and none of them were good. His body started to empty adrenalin into his system and he could feel his face turn red. Now that he knew she was alright he got control and made himself relax.

In exactly 10 minutes, as the woman had promised, the door opened. He walked into the room to find Brennan already dressed and in a wheelchair with her purse on her lap. Booth went to her and kissed her lips gently.

"Are you ready to go?"

"I can say in all honesty, YES." They all laughed at Brennan's eagerness to go home.

"Booth this is Mrs. Nancy Frederick. I've hired her and a Ms. Theresa Milner to take care of Angela and I for the next one to two weeks while Hodgins is at work. They are both nurses here at the hospital and work part time taking care of people at their homes." She saw Booth starting to protest that he could help her. "I don't want any argument on this. You and the others are working on a new case and both you and Hodgins will be tied up for most of the day and possibly into the night. Now please take me home."

Booth stood at attention and gave her a salute. "Sir, yes Sir." He picked up her small bag and they started to walk out and to the elevator.

Nancy bent forward and whispered to Dr. Brennan. "You've trained him very well. Was it hard?"

"We've had a few heated discussions but he finally started to respond satisfactorily to my efforts to train him."

Booth, wisely, kept his mouth shut the rest of the way to the front of the hospital. Booth left the women at the front while he ran to get his SUV. He pulled up in front and got out. When he saw Brennan start to get up he quickly told her to sit still and he would pick her up. It was still hurting her to get up and down so she decided to do as he said since the SUV was so high up.

Booth picked her up easily and deposited her into the passenger seat in the front. The nurse had already taken the wheelchair back into the entrance of the hospital and was returning when she saw Booth hold the 2nd passenger door open for her.

"I'll be following you in my own car Agent Booth. If you would wait here for me I'll pull up behind you and follow you."

"Okay." Booth closed the door and ran around to the driver's side. He waited until Mrs. Frederick pulled up behind him then took off for Brennan's apartment.

By 12 noon Booth was parking inside the underground parking space designated for Brennan's apartment. Mrs. Frederick pulled into a guest parking space and joined them at the elevator. Brennan was walking on her own but holding on tightly to her partner's arm. As the elevator opened he walked in slowly so that Brennan wouldn't have a problem keeping up. He could tell that she was experiencing some pain.

"Would you like for me to carry you the rest of the way?" Booth asked.

"No, I can make it just walk slowly. I have to get some exercise and this walk will be a good beginning."

They made it to her apartment without any problem. Booth just walked slowly and held onto her hand in case she started to go down. He pulled out his own key and opened the door and they all walked in. Angela came out of her bedroom at the sound of the door opening and greeted them.

"You must have been a good girl since they let you out today." Angela said as she hugged Brennan. She turned to Mrs. Frederick and shook her hand after letting go of Brennan. "Hi, I'm Angela Hodgins."

"Hello Mrs. Hodgins."

"I think you should go right to bed Dr. Brennan. You're looking a little pale, are you experiencing any pain?" Mrs. Frederick looked at Brennan. She could see that she was leaning heavily on Booth.

"A little but my Doctor told me to expect it when I went home. Let's go to my bedroom Booth."

Booth picked her up and took her into her bedroom and placed her on the bed. She gave a sigh of relief when he set her down on her own bed. "I don't know what it is but it always feels so good to get back to your own bed. I think I'll be taking a nap now. Can you stay the rest of the day Booth?"

"Yes, I told Cullin that the squint squad was going to be working on the skeleton for the next two days so since I wouldn't be able to do anything until they gave me an ID I was going to spend the rest of the day with you."

"Did he object in any way?"

"No, he knows the routine by now."

"Good, can you see if there is anything in the kitchen for me to eat? I'm starving."

"Sure, I'm hungry too, how about you Mrs. Frederick?" Booth asked as he headed for the kitchen.

"Anything you're having will be fine for me."

After 20 minutes Booth came back with a tray loaded down with food. Angela followed him in with a tray full of drinks for everyone. He laid the tray on the bed and handed a small plate with a sandwich and chips to Mrs. Frederick, Bones and Angela then took the last sandwich for themselves while Angela handed out the drinks. Booth sat on the other side of the bed while he ate his sandwich.

In between bites Booth was telling Bones about the new case they were working on and how far they had gotten so far. Mrs. Frederick was listening closely. She found the whole thing fascinating. When she saw that Dr. Brennan was done she started picking all of the plates up.

"You don't have to do that Mrs. Frederick; I'll take care of it." Booth said as he started to get up.

"That's okay Agent Booth. Why don't you take a nap with Dr. Brennan? She needs to get some rest from all of the activity this morning."

"Since we'll be together for the next couple of weeks why don't we start using each other's first name? You can call me Angela."

"That sounds good to me, my first name is Nancy. I don't know your first name though Agent Booth."

"Just call me Booth."

"His first name is Seeley, but he doesn't like it so we all just call him Booth." Brennan said.

"Okay Booth and Temperance, get some rest." Nancy said as she picked up the tray of dishes and was followed out of the room by Angela with her tray of glasses. Booth got up and closed the bedroom door behind them then went into the bathroom. By the time he came out Brennan was sound asleep so he just kicked off his shoes and took off his pants and shirt and lay down beside her. He pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head. They both stayed in that position until 3 p.m. when they were awakened by a knock on the door.

"Temperance and Booth, it's time to get up now. You have several visitors here to see you." Nancy said after knocking on the door a second time when she didn't hear anything.

"We'll be there in a few minutes Nancy." Booth said.

Brennan rubbed her eyes as she started to get up. "Would you help me up?"

Booth went over to her side of the bed and pulled her up. "Did you want to go to the bathroom?"

"Yes but I can make it on my own. Would you get dressed and call Nancy in here, then you can leave. I'm going to need her assistance." Brennan said then walked into her bathroom by herself. Booth watched her then he got dressed and went out to the living room and told Nancy that Brennan needed her.

Booth went over to Max and Russ and greeted them by shaking their hand. He just nodded at Sweets. Angela was bringing in coffee for everyone along with cream and sugar and cookies. He took the tray from her and set it down on the coffee table. Angela went back into the kitchen and brought the pot of coffee out and poured it into all of the cups.

Max was the first one to speak up. "How is she doing Booth?"

"She's doing okay. She is still sore from the surgery but she seems to be doing okay. She walked pretty much on her own from the parking garage she just hung onto my arm and I went real slow."

Fifteen minutes later Brennan and Nancy came out to the living room. All of the men stood up when she came in. Brennan looked at all of them with a smile. "Please, sit down everyone."

Booth held out his hand to her and she sat down between him and Angela. He fixed a cup of coffee for her and sat back down.

Sweets took this as a signal that he could begin. "Now that we are all settled in I want to tell Max and Russ why they are here. I know that all I told you was that Temperance needed your help. The reason that she needed your help is that she wants to better understand why her family left her. She has come to the understanding that she is afraid of forging personnel relationships because of her past. To be specific, she is afraid that if she should allow herself to love someone again, as she did her family, she would run the risk of being abandoned again.

"Max, why don't we start with you? Please explain why you and your wife left your children behind."

Max Keenan looked at his daughter. Unbidden, tears started to form in the corners of his eyes. Before they could fall he quickly brushed them away.

"Your mother and I didn't want to leave you and your brother Temperance. Without going into specifics let's just say we had become involved with unsavory people that threatened our family if we didn't do what they wanted. We didn't want to be involved with their business practices but they pulled us in. We hoped that by moving away and changing our names we would be able to escape them, but they were relentless. You and Booth have had to deal with the McVicars so you know something about how ruthless they are. Because of the way their minds worked they were determined to come after us just because we opposed them and what they did. Your mother and I had seen how ruthless they were. We saw what they did to people that opposed them. The only difference between Hitler and the McVicars was that they wanted to walk over only a few people at a time where as Hitler walked over whole countries."

Max got up from his chair and sat on the coffee table in front of his daughter. He took her hands in his. "We were so deathly afraid that they would kill you and your brother. Your mother couldn't sleep at night because she was so worried about you and Russ. Finally, a couple of weeks before Christmas, we were told by someone on your mother's side of the family that the McVicars had located us and were coming after us. That night we decided to leave you and Russ behind and draw them away from you two. We hoped that the county would put you two in a foster home together. By letting you go into the system we hoped that the McVicars wouldn't be able to locate you since that sort of information is usually closed to strangers.

"I am sorry that you went through so much suffering because of what we did. All I can do is ask you to forgive your mother and me." Max put his head down and just repeated the words "I'm sorry Temp, I'm sorry. We didn't intend for you to suffer as you did. Our only goal was to keep you alive."

Brennan reached for her father and put her arms around him. "I forgive you Daddy, and I forgive Momma also. I understand now that you only did it to keep us safe. You didn't leave me because you didn't love me, but because you 'did' love me." They stood up and continued to hug each other. Both of them were crying as they held on to each other. Max reached over for Russ and pulled him into their hug also. He kissed each of them before letting them go and sitting down again.

Brennan could hear everyone else sniffling and blowing their noses also. She got up from the couch again and went to a cabinet where she kept several bottles of whiskey and liqueur. She grabbed the bottle of Royal Crown and a bunch of glasses and went back to the couch. She poured a small amount into each of the men's glasses and gave it to them. She looked at Nancy to see if it was okay for her to have any. Nancy nodded an okay and held out one of the glasses for herself also. After they all had a drink they were quiet for awhile.

Sweets broke the silence. "What about you Russ? Why did you leave Dr. Brennan behind instead of staying or taking her with you?"

Russ didn't answer right away, for almost a minute he didn't say anything.

"You have to remember Tempe that I was still pretty much a kid myself. By the time Dad and Mom left I reached the age where I couldn't stay in the system for long and they wouldn't let me stay in the same place with you. At the time I thought you would be better off in a home with a woman to take care of you and for you to talk to. I didn't know how bad things could get in what they call the system. All I knew was that I couldn't take care of you." Russ was quiet for a moment. "Dam it Temp, I could barely take care of myself let alone a little sister. I knew more about what Mom and Dad were going through so I didn't wind up hating them like you did. When I was able to I tried getting in touch with you to see how you were but they wouldn't give me any information. When I came back to try and find you it took me several months to track you down. When I did find you, you didn't want anything to do with me and you wouldn't answer my calls or my letters. I don't know if you ever knew it but I used to watch you walk back and forth from school. Finally though I gave up on you letting me talk to you. I left to find work elsewhere. As you know I fell in with a bad crowd and didn't attempt to contact you anymore since you didn't want to see or talk to me."

Russ stood up and looked at his sister. "You hurt me too Temp. You were the only family I had left, as far as I knew, but you didn't want to be around me anymore and that hurt Temp that hurt more than you know." He went to the cabinet where he had seen her get the liquor from and found a bottle of whiskey and filled his glass. He downed all of the content of the glass in one gulp then returned to his chair and didn't say anything more.

Sweets leaned forward in his chair and put his tablet down that he had been writing in all the time Max and Russ were talking. "Dr. Brennan, is there anything you would like to say to your father and brother?"

Angela looked at her friend and held onto her hand while Booth held onto her other hand. She looked at her brother for a moment without saying anything.

"I guess it's my turn to say I'm sorry. I am sorry Russ for pushing you away as I did. I should have tried to understand that I wasn't the only one suffering. I made matters worse for you and me by rejecting any attempt on your part to contact me again and for us to re-unite as a family." Brennan looked up at Booth with sad, tear filled eyes. "Most of all though, I am sorry that I pushed you away so many times Booth, like Russ you have offered to make a new family with me but I rejected you. With Sweets help I have come to realize that my thinking has been greatly influenced by my child like way of looking at what happened to me when I was young. I understand now why my mother and father did what they did. I know that I would do the same thing for my own child."

Brennan looked at everyone else and said "With Sweets, Angela and Booth's help I promise that I will do my best to change my way of thinking about my relationships with all of you."

Nancy saw how tired Brennan was so she spoke up for the first time. "I think it's time to call an end to this so that Dr. Brennan can get some rest." She stood up to reinforce her right to end the session and get her patient back to bed. Booth stood also and pulled Brennan up then put his arm under her legs and picked her up with ease. He carried her back to her bedroom and put her down and helped her to take her robe off. She lay down and he pulled the covers over her. Before leaving he gave her a kiss on her forehead. Without saying anything he walked out with his head down so that Nancy wouldn't see his unshed tears that he quickly wiped away with the back of his hand.

TBC…


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

While Nancy stayed and checked Brennan's vitals, Booth rejoined the others. As he walked into the living room he heard Russ ask Sweets, "Why is Tempe having such a hard time with this problem? I had a hard time also but that hasn't stopped me from loving someone and taking on a ready made family."

"She was younger than you Russ, and a girl. After Temperance was left to the system she was abused and almost raped. Unless a young girl is lucky enough to be put with a decent family they almost always have a hard life. Few are lucky enough to emerge unscathed. In your sisters case it affected her view of relationships, both existing and future relationships. She is very lucky to have found someone like Booth to work with. It has given him the time that he needed to understand her and why she is the way she is. He's not a trained psychiatrist but he has an innate ability to read people. It's what makes him such a good agent. It's what helps him to overlook Temperance's straight forward way of looking at people and circumstances. She has told me that Booth has taught her a lot about relating to people."

Sweets looked up at Booth as he returned to the couch and sat down.

"Now that Temperance is finally giving herself and Booth a chance at love I am sure that she will learn a lot from him in that category also. As time goes by she won't be so afraid of loving others and running the risk of them leaving her. In Dr. Brennan's mind she equates love with people leaving. She thinks that people she loves eventually find something wrong with her that they don't like and that is why they leave her."

Russ looked at his father and put his hand on his shoulder. "I don't blame you and mom for what happened to us Dad. I just want you to know that I am okay with it and I am sure that with Booth and Dr. Sweets help that Tempe will get better also."

"I know that she will be okay now Russ. I know that her thinking is on the right track now and do you know why I am so sure of it?"

"No, why?" Russ asked.

"Because she called me Daddy, she hasn't called me that since she was 12 years old. On her 12th birthday she announced in a very serious voice that she wasn't going to call me Daddy anymore because she was too old to address me like that. She said she would call me Dad from then on. I accepted her decision without an argument but that night when you mother and I were in bed I cried. Your mother asked me why I was crying and I told her that I was going to miss my little girl calling me Daddy when I came home. You and Tempe had always called your mother Mom but I was no longer going to hear my little girl call me Daddy." Max pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his eyes and blew his nose.

"Yeah, I'm dreading the day that the girls stop calling me Daddy." Russ said.

As they sat, each deep in their own thoughts, they heard Brennan screaming. Booth jumped up to go to her. Sweets knew that it must only be a bad dream so he put his hand on Booth's arm to stop him.

"She is only having a bad dream. Mr. Keenan, go to her, it will be a good way to start to mend the fences between you."

Max got up and went into his daughter's bedroom. He went to the bed and sat next to his daughter and pulled her into his arms. "It's okay Tempe, it's okay. It's only a dream and dreams can't hurt you. Daddy's here. Shhhh." Max said as he held his daughter and rocked her back and forth. Brennan held on to him tightly.

"I was so scared Daddy. I fought them as hard as I could but there were just too many of them." Brennan was crying so hard that she was shaking. The more she cried the tighter she held on to her father and the tighter he held onto her. "They killed my baby Daddy, they killed mine and Booths baby. He hit me so hard and so many times that I could feel it's life slipping away from me. When I felt my baby leaving me Daddy I just wanted to die. "

"It's okay baby, it's okay. You and Booth can make another baby when you're all better and this time it will be the fun way. No more test tube babies for you two anymore."

Booth, Sweets and Russ were standing just outside the bedroom door and listening. Sweets had to hold onto Booth's arm to keep him from going to her when she talked about losing the baby. Booth turned to the wall and hid his tears.

"But what if he doesn't want me anymore Daddy? What if he sees me as damaged goods now?"

"Temperance Brennan, stop talking like that." Max pulled his daughter away from his shoulder so they could look at each other. "I have never seen another man love someone as much as Booth loves you. Nothing, nothing could ever make him stop loving you. Don't forget that he is a trained FBI agent that has been taught what happens to a woman when she is raped. You know that he would never leave you unless you push him away. And believe me when I say that if he hasn't left your side yet then he most likely never would. Sometimes Temperance you can be so stubborn in your outlook on life. You are a carbon copy of your mother. She was just as stubborn as you. The next time you and Booth have an argument and he tells you that you are stubborn you can always tell him 'It's my mother's fault'." He smiled at her and that finally made her stop crying and she gave him a smile back.

Sweets pulled Booth back out to the living room where they took up the same positions they previously had on the couch. Booth pulled his handkerchief out, wiped his eyes and blew his nose. After another ten minutes or so Max came out of his daughter's room and sat down with the rest.

Sweets was the first one to speak. "Is she sleeping now?"

"Yes. You were right Dr. Sweets. I think my going to her helped us reassert our bound. I think she is my little girl again except she is just a full grown woman that I can't take over my knee and give her a good spanking when she gets out of hand." He looked straight at Booth and saw that his eyes were red from crying also. "You will now have that honor to carry out from now on." Booth just smiled at him and they shook hands.

Sweets stood up and it was a signal to the rest that the session was over. He walked Max and Russ to the door and shook their hands and thanked them for coming. Booth said goodbye to them also and went back to the kitchen to pour himself another cup of coffee. Sweets came over to get some more coffee also. Since Booth and Nancy were both sitting at the dining room table he joined them.

After almost 10 minutes of silence Sweets decided to talk.

"What are you thinking about Booth?"

"It's good that she finally opened up to Max but now I am worried about how Bones will react when we have to go on a case out in the field and she is surrounded by mostly men."

"I know, I am concerned also. I have been discussing this possible problem with some of my colleagues. Fortunately she has started to open up to me more. You're partly responsible for her change of attitude towards what she calls a "Soft Science"."

"How did I do that? I haven't displayed too much confidence in you since we started being forced to have sessions with you." Booth said rather quietly with his eyes on his coffee cup. Sweets knew that he didn't feel like that anymore since he had turned to him several times since they first met.

"She has asked me for help in learning how to read people like you do. Haven't you noticed how she is a little less straight forward with her questioning of people? We have also discussed why she turns off people with the way she testifies in court. Between you, me and the defending lawyer she is learning to tone down her testimony so that it isn't so scientific. She is slowly learning to relate and speak to people that don't have her expertise in science."

"I think my son, Parker, is teaching her also. He does pretty good now when he talks to her but when they first met he would often say the same thing that she does, "I don't know what that means". She would then have to rethink the way she said something and rephrase it."

Sweets looked at his watch and stood up. "I have to get back to the office now. If you should need me just give me a call." He looked directly at Booth and said, "I think that she will be okay now Booth. She just needs more time to heal both mentally and physically." Nancy got up then and walked Sweets to the door and said goodbye. She went into the kitchen to start preparing dinner after walking Sweets out.

Booth got up and went to the big screen TV that Brennan had bought for him when he started bringing Parker over to spend the day with her. He took a seat on the couch and looked for something interesting to watch. When he found something he laid down on the couch. Since he felt emotionally drained he quickly fell asleep.

Nancy went to check on Brennan and found her sleeping peacefully. She checked on Booth also and found him sleeping. She went to the linen closet and pulled out a blanket and placed it over him then went back into the kitchen to continue fixing supper. After a few minutes she had to get a Kleenex and wipe her own tears away and blow her nose.

TBC….


	14. Chapter 14

I had to repost this chapter because of a mistake I realized I made. It was just one line but that one line said a lot. It's been so long since I started this story that I forgot that I already had Booth and Brennan in bed together. That one line has been corrected.

Chapter 14

Brennan did start to do better. When Booth and Jack left the next morning Angela thought it was still too early in the morning and she wanted some more sleep but didn't want to be alone. When she knocked on Brennan's bedroom door she didn't receive an answer so she opened the door carefully and found her friend still sleeping. As quietly as possible she pulled the covers up and slipped in. As she lay down and pulled the covers up around her she heard Brennan.

"Are you lonely without Jack?"

"Yeah, I started missing him as soon as he got up and went to take a shower." Angela said.

"Even though Booth and I have only had sex a few times we have become closer and I feel his absence rather acutely. I feel safer when he is in bed with me."

"How are you feeling, I mean after your talk with Sweets, Russ and your father?" Angela asked as she turned towards Brennan.

"Better, a lot better in fact. I don't know how to explain it but it seems that a weight has been taken off of my shoulders. When Booth and I talked about it when we went to bed he said that my talk with my father helped to close the chasm between us that I had kept there for so long. He said that when I was crying so hard, about the rape, on my father's shoulder that it helped to close that chasm that I was working so hard to keep between us. I think the tighter I held on to my father the more narrow that chasm became so that it helped me to not only let go of what happened to me when my parents left me but it also helped me to face the rape and the loss of our baby.

"What about you? Are you dealing with what happened to you?"

"You know me Sweetie, I don't hold anything in. Jack has been there for me all the way. The evening we moved in with you I woke up screaming and Jack said that I had been striking out at someone in my dream. He said he just held onto me tightly until I woke up. I think I must have cried almost one hour straight while he held onto me. The next morning I felt a lot better.

"I think we are both very lucky to have found such good men. Do you think that if Booth asks you to marry him would you say yes?" Angela asked.

"No, nothing has changed there. I still don't believe in marriage. A ceremony and a piece of paper is an antiquated ideology. It does not hold a couple together, as the statistics on divorce rate shows. Besides I don't think he would ask me since he knows my views on the ritual."

"Yes, but would you do it if he asked you? You know that he is a very old fashioned guy and believes in the institution of marriage. I don't think that he wants to run the risk of not being able to watch another child of his grow up.

"Sweetie, if you really and truly love him you would want to make him happy and you would put aside your beliefs for him." Angela raised herself up and leaned on her elbow so she could better emphasize what she was going to say. "You know in your heart that he would bend over backwards for you and that he would refrain from asking you when he knows how you feel about marriage. If you don't let him have this one thing Temperance Brennan, than you are a very selfish woman. And stop telling him that there is no God." Brennan didn't say anything, she knew that Angela was really mad at her. Angela knew she was thinking about what she had said to her so she just laid back down again and turned over.

"By the way, Jack let Mrs. Milner in before he left. She said that Nancy had called her and asked her to come over a day earlier since she was called into work."

Brennan didn't say anything, she just lay there and thought about what Angela had said. She knew, from books that she had read, that a marriage or relationship was based on each partners willingness to give into the other partner. When only one of the partners gave into the other and the other always demanded that things be done their way the partnership would eventually dissolve or one would be destroyed.

Brennan was thinking so much that she was developing a headache. She decided to get up and take a shower. The warmth of the water would help her to clear her mind so that she could relax and think more clearly. She got up and went into the bathroom. She was a little stiff from laying down so much and sleeping but otherwise she felt pretty good.

After taking a shower she looked at the surgical site more closely. It was a little red but otherwise it seemed to be healing okay. Before getting dressed she thought it would be best for the nurse to take a look at it and see if she could go without the bandage.

Brennan pulled on her bathrobe and went into the kitchen where Mrs. Milner would probably be. "Good morning Mrs. Milner. Are you finding everything okay?"

"Call me Theresa, Dr. Brennan. Yes I am finding everything okay. Would you like me to make you some breakfast?"

"Yes, please. Before you do that though would you check the surgical site? Before I took a shower I took the bandage off and I thought you should look at it to see if I could go without a bandage now."

Theresa pulled a chair over where she could check Brennan more comfortably. Brennan opened her robe so the nurse could check her. After she touched the skin around the surgical site she asked her "How does the rest of you feel?" Brennan closed up her robe when the nurse was done.

"I'm still stiff when I walk but I think that's because I have been lying down and sleeping a lot, which I'm not use to."

"How about your insides, especially your uterus?"

"I'm not experiencing any pain and I stopped bleeding yesterday. They did a pretty good job of cleaning me out."

"Okay then, I think I had better put some antibiotic cream on the site and put a light bandage on so that your clothes don't rub against it. You can wait here while I get what I need."

Mrs. Milner was back with her bag in just a few seconds. She pulled out some antibiotic cream and then put a lite bandage on Brennan. "You can go and get dressed now but make sure you put on something loose fitting."

"Okay, thank you." Brennan said then went back into her bedroom to get dressed. Angela woke up when she came back in. "What's the matter? Couldn't you sleep anymore?"

"No, I was thinking about what you said and I think you are right. As the saying goes, 'A house divided cannot stand'. I don't believe it would be good for me to oppose Booth on our marriage. I think that after awhile I will ask him so that he won't feel uncomfortable about it. Please don't say anything to anyone else Angela."

Angela got up from the bed and threw her robe on and went to Brennan and hugged her. "I won't Sweetie, I promise. And I promise you that you won't regret it. Besides a baby, this will be the biggest gift that you could possibly give him." She gave her a kiss on her cheek then went to her own room to shower and get dressed.

After 30 minutes Angela joined Theresa and Brennan for breakfast. As they sat around the table enjoying a cup of coffee the phone rang. Brennan answered it. "Brennan speaking."

"Hi Dr. Brennan, this is Cam. Can I speak to Angela?"

Brennan handed the phone to Angela and sat down again. "Hi Cam, what's up?"

"How are you feeling Angela?"

"Okay, in fact I was thinking of coming in tomorrow."

"Good because we could sure use you. We have been examining the skeleton and we need your help on giving him a face."

"Okay, I'm getting tired of sitting around. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Angela put the phone back in its cradle then took her seat back at the table again. She looked up at Brennan when she felt her eyes on her.

"You're going back to work already?"

"Yeah, they need me and I'm starting to go stir crazy." Angela said.

"When do you think it would be safe for me to go back to work Theresa?" Brennan asked her nurse.

"I can't make that determination Dr. Brennan. You will have to wait and see your doctor, which I think will be on Monday. I think it would be a good idea though for you to take a walk outside this afternoon. Either we could go for a walk or perhaps Mr. Booth could stop by during his lunch break and he could help you walk to the corner and back. I would advise you to do the same Mrs. Hodgins."

Brennan didn't say anything more she just picked up the phone and called Booth. She realized, as she punched in his cellphone, that she wanted to see him again.

On the third ring Booth answered. "Booth." He sounded busy.

"Booth, this is Temperance. Are you busy?"

"Yes, can I call you back in a few minutes?"

"No, that's okay. I was just going to ask you if you could stop by for lunch and take me for a walk. That's okay though if you're busy. Angela and I can take a walk with the nurse. I'll see you later tonight. Bye."

Brennan hung up without waiting for a reply. She was disappointed that he couldn't stop by. Instead of thinking about it any longer she decided to go see her partner in crime, as Booth referred to Angela sometimes.

She found Angela back in her room. Since the door was open she just went in and sat down on the bed. Angela looked up from the picture she was sketching. "Hi Sweetie, what's up?"

"Mrs. Milner wants me to go for a short walk today and she recommends you go also."

"That sounds like a good idea. It will be nice to get out and stretch our legs. When do you want to go?" Angela asked as she started to put her drawing pad and chalk away.

"I want to change into something else so how about in 15 minutes?"

"That sounds good to me." Brennan left then to go and change into something warmer and better suited for going outside. Before going into her room she told Mrs. Milner about their plans and asked her to go with them since Booth was busy.

Fifteen minutes later the women were all at the door as they put light coats on. The doorbell rang just as Angela reached for the door knob. Both Angela and Brennan jumped back several feet. Brennan quickly recovered from the scare and looked through the peep hole to see who it was. She saw one of Booths co-workers from the FBI. She quickly took the chain off and opened the door.

The young man at the door introduced himself. She remembered him as Danny. "Hi Danny. Are you looking for Booth?"

"No, actually Booth asked me to come over here and escort you ladies for your first walk outside. He said that there was a place we could have lunch at down on the corner that we could walk to and we could have lunch."

"You didn't have to do that Danny. We were just going to stretch our legs after being cooped up in here for so long." Brennan said.

"That's okay, no problem. I was going to lunch anyway." Danny held out his arm and encouraged the women to start their walk. All three women went with him down to the front of Brennan's apartment building. Brennan noticed how Danny was looking all over as they went to the front and down the steps. She saw him constantly scanning everyone that came close to them or was even across the street. At first Brennan was to his left while Angela and Mrs. Milner were too his right and close to the buildings as they walked. As soon as he could he changed his position so that he was on the side closest to the street. They stopped at the end of the street and went into the small restaurant. Danny ordered lunch while the women just had coffee and something small to eat. They weren't hungry since they had just had breakfast 2 hours before.

On the way back Danny continued his constant surveillance of their surroundings. There wasn't too much traffic at this hour of the day and very few people walking. When they were almost at the entrance to Brennan's apartment building Danny heard a vehicle coming up the street. He turned and looked at it just as it reached them. He saw a white van opening up its side door. He quickly pushed the women down on the ground and next to a taxi cab that was waiting for a passenger he was picking up. At the same time he yelled "Everybody get down".

From the van came a hail of bullets that struck the building and the glass entrance doors. Fortunately the guard at the door had ducked as well and the bullets did nothing but break the glass.

Danny quickly asked everyone if they were alright. He tried to see the license plates on the van but it was already going round the corner by the time he dared to get up. He saw Brennan standing and looking at her cell phone.

"Are you calling 911?" Danny asked her.

"No I'm looking at the picture I was able to get of the van."

Danny moved closer to her and she gave him her cell phone. On the cell phones screen, clear as day, was the back of the van and the license plate number.

TBC…..


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Danny pulled his own cell phone out and called in the attempted hit on Dr. Brennan to FBI headquarters. His next call went to Booth, who was out in the field interrogating suspects.

"Booth." He answered his phone with the usual identification.

"Special Agent Booth, this is Danny, we were just returning to Dr. Brennan's apartment when we were shot at by some men in a car that drove by. Everyone is okay. I've notified Headquarters already."

"You did good Danny. Take everyone up to Dr. Brennan's apartment and I'll be there within 30 minutes."

Danny did as Booth said and escorted everyone upstairs.

As soon as they arrived upstairs Brennan sent the picture of the van to Booth and Special Agent Hopkins, of the Gang Division. When she was done she went into her bathroom. She could feel something warm going down her inner thigh. When she pulled her pants off she saw a small amount of blood going down the inside of her pants and leg. She put her clothes into the hamper and was thankful that she had chosen a black pair of pants to wear. She pulled on her robe and went to the door and called for the nurse.

"Mrs. Milner could you come here please?"

The nurse was at her door in a second along with Angela. Brennan let both of them in then quickly closed the door.

"Are you alright Dr. Brennan?" Mrs. Milner asked.

"No, I think I tore something inside when Danny pushed us down and next to the car. I felt something warm going down my inner thigh and when I was able to check myself I found blood."

"Are you experiencing any pain right now?"

"Just a dull pain. It feels like something tore open, just a little, again. When I hit the car we were leaning against I felt a sharp pain but now it's just a dull pain. I don't seem to be bleeding anymore."

"Okay I think it would be best if you lay down. I am going to call your OB-GYN and ask her if we should take you in. I don't think it will be necessary though. I think you might have just pulled at something that hasn't quite healed all the way yet."

Mrs. Milner went out to the living room where she had Brennan's record that included all of her Doctors phone numbers. She looked up her OB-GYN and called her. She was on the phone when Booth came running in. Booth had called Hodgins to let him know what had happened so he was right on Booth's heels as he came through the door. They both looked for Brennan and Angela. They looked at Mrs. Milner and she pointed to the bedroom. Booth knocked at the door. Angela let him in. Since she saw Jack right behind him she went out after Booth came in.

"Are you all right?" Jack asked after he hugged her.

"Yes we're fine. It was apparently just a drive by shooting, but I don't think they were trying to kill us because the bullets hit the building too high. I think they just wanted to scare us." Angela told Jack as they walked back into the living room where she saw Special Agent Hopkins from the gang division.

Mrs. Milner went back to Brennan's bedroom door again and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Booth opened the door and let her in.

"What did she say?" Brennan asked.

"She said the same thing I did. She thinks since you stopped bleeding and aren't in any real pain that you should just do as I said and lay down for the rest of the day. Let me check your bandage."

Booth had been sitting on the bed next to Brennan. He got up and made room for Brennan to lie down so the nurse could check her. She untied Brennan's robe and checked under the light bandage she had put on her in the morning. Everything was fine and the surgical site was healing nicely. She replaced the bandage and Brennan closed her robe again.

"What happened that you had to call her doctor?" Booth asked.

Brennan explained to him what had happened to her and told him that she was okay now. She could tell that Booth was angry but she knew he was mad at the shooters and especially Ortiz. She put her hands on his arm to try and make him calm down. She could see the vein in his neck pulsing with each beat of his heart.

"Calm down Booth. We're all okay. Why don't you go out and talk to the others. When you're done come back in here and lay down with me for awhile until I go to sleep. Okay?"

"Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can." He gave her a kiss on her forehead and walked out.

Booth walked over to Hopkins.

"How is she?" Hopkins asked.

"She's okay now. In fact she's taking it better than I am. Have you heard anything about the van and the shooters?"

"Yes, she gave us such a good picture of the van and the license plate that they've already been apprehended. I am going to go over and interrogate them now. Do you want to go with me?" Hopkins asked Booth.

"No, not right now. I am going to stay here the rest of the day. I think I'll get an agent to come over here and stay with them tomorrow while I'm gone. I would like to go and talk to the shooters tomorrow and if they don't talk I am going to arrange to have a friend of mine placed in his cell with him. His name is Tommy and he is 6'5" and weighs about 400. It took 3 agents to help me take him down. He is so big that we had to use two pair of handcuffs linked together to keep his hands behind him."

"Why do you say he's a friend of yours when you're the one that arrested him?" Hopkins asked.

"Tommy isn't a bad guy, he just got in with the wrong crowd. He's really very nice and I guess you could call him a gentle giant. He was always told that he was too dumb to do anything, by his father, because he couldn't read. I found out when I was interrogating him that he isn't dumb he's just dyslexic. I talked to him about it and talked a specialist into visiting him twice a week to teach him how to read and write. Since then we've been friends and sometimes I'll ask him to scare the shit out of someone." Booth was laughing as he was telling Hopkins about the last part.

"What's so funny?"

"The last time I put Tommy in with someone that we couldn't get to talk the guard said that the young guy turned white as a ghost and peed on himself when he saw Tommy. Tommy didn't even have to say anything. They said he just smiled at him and blocked out the sun as he walked into the cell. The two guards that took the kid to his cell were talking up a storm about how Tommy raped his last cell mate and he had to have surgery to repair a ruptured colon. The next day I went to talk to the kid again and I actually had to tell him to shut up. He gave me everything I needed and some things that I didn't care about. When I got up to leave the kid actually begged me not to let them put him back into the cell with Tommy. He said he woke up in the middle of the night and found Tommy standing over him and petting him."

Everyone looked at Booth and Hopkins laughing so hard they had to sit down. When he was able to Hopkins said "I don't think that will work with Ortiz's gang members."

"Yeah, I know but it won't hurt to talk to Tommy about it and see what he thinks. He's a Samoan and could pass for Mexican and he even knows how to speak Spanish."

"If he can speak two languages he couldn't be dumb so maybe he'll be successful and get us what we need. By the way Ortiz's trial is set for the last day of this month."

"That was fast. They usually take at least several months before the trial." Booth said as he got up also.

"Yeah, but it's like you said they don't like it when they do damage to one of us so they're pushing this. It also doesn't hurt that Dr. Brennan is a famous author. I'll see you tomorrow." Hopkins left to also check on his people at the front of the apartment building.

Booth went to the kitchen and made a sandwich for himself, grabbed a glass of iced tea and chips and took it into Brennan's bedroom. He hadn't had time for lunch and he was starving. He knocked on the door and heard Brennan say to come in.

"How are you doing?" Booth asked as he put his tea and sandwich on the nightstand. He took off his shoes, jacket and tie and lay down on the bed with his back up against the backboard.

"Okay, do you know if they caught the shooters?"

"Yes, Hopkins said that the picture you gave us was so good that they caught them almost as soon as they got the picture. He went to check on his crew and then he is going over to the jail and interrogate them. He also said that Ortiz's, and the rest of the men's trial is at the end of this month."

"That's awfully fast. Usually it takes months for them to come to trial." Brennan said as she grabbed one of Booth's chips.

"It's like I told you Bones, they don't like it when anyone messes with one of our own people. Do you think you'll be able to testify?"

Brennan hesitated at first. "Yes, I believe I will be fine. I am sure that I will be able to do okay after I've talked to Sweets a few times." Brennan sat up and leaned on one arm and looked right at Booth. "And don't tell him I said that. After all he is only 12 years old. But I think that their just might be something to psychology."

Booth smiled at her and put his arm around her. "Don't worry Bones, I don't want his head to swell up either. We'll keep our new perspective of him to ourselves."

"Yeah, I know you. You just don't want him to know so you can continue to tease him just because you know that it irritates him when we call him a 12 year old."

Booth finished his sandwich while Brennan helped him eat the rest of his chips. When the plate was cleared of all the food he put it on the nightstand and they both lay down for what they intended to be a short nap.

TBC…..


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

**Jeffersonian 8 a.m. Monday: Two weeks later.**

On her first day back to work Brennan walked into the Lab. She didn't see anyone on the platform so she went looking for Cam. She wasn't in her office either. When Brennan came out of Cam's office she heard someone calling her name. "Sweetie, we're up here." Brennan looked up and saw Angela waving at her up on the upper platform where they usually took their breaks. Angela met Brennan at the top of the stairs and even though she had just seen her this morning she gave her a hug.

Angela put her arm around Brennan's and led her over to where the rest were. She found Cam, Hodgins and Wendell over at the seating area along with coffee cakes and coffee.

"Welcome back Dr. Brennan." Everyone yelled.

"Thank you everyone. It's good to be back. I was starting to go stir crazy. Do we have anything to work on right now?"

"No not right now. I have a ton of paperwork to work on and you have some papers to fill out for personnel. Since we didn't have anything pressing to do I thought we could take a few minutes to welcome you back." Cam told her after she grabbed a coffee cake to have with her coffee.

Everyone else sat down and had some coffee cake also.

"Have you heard when the trial is supposed to take place Dr. Brennan?" Wendell asked.

"In two weeks." Brennan answered.

"That is sure fast. Usually they take months before the trial is even given a date." Wendell commented.

"Booth said it's because we all work with the FBI and the justice system in general and also since I am a well known author it helps to push everything along. He said, and I quote, "We take care of our own", unquote." Brennan said with a smile as she took a bite of her coffeecake.

After talking about what had gone on during Brennans absence Cam stood and announced that it was time to go back to work now.

After filling out paper work for personnel Brennan and Wendell went into the Bone Yard to pull out some old bones that they would try to identify. By 1p.m. their backs were hurting them after standing over the table and trying to sort out the bones and looking for any possible marks that would tell them how the person had died.

"If you don't mind Dr. Brennan I am going to take a lunch break now." Wendell said as he stood up and stretched his arms and back.

Brennan stood up and stretched also. After more than 4 weeks of doing nothing she was no longer used to the long hours in the Bone Yard also.

Angela came in just as Wendell left. "Let's go to lunch Sweetie. You've been working over these bones long enough."

"Okay, that sounds good. I'm hungry and I heard they just killed all of the oldest lab rats yesterday and you know what that means, 'Surprise Stew'." Brennan said with a smile.

"Ewww! That sounds terrible. I don't know why but Jack thinks that's funny also. Besides, you're a vegetarian so I don't know why you think it's so funny."

"Come on Angela, we can order Caesar Salads." Brennan walked to her office to get her purse. When they arrived at the cafeteria they found a long line of people waiting to get their food.

"Let's go to the Diner Brennan, well get lunch faster."

"I can't go out Angela. In fact Booth doesn't want either of us to go out to the diner until after the trial. He doesn't want to take any chances with any gang members trying to shoot us before the trial. He said that the first time was a warning but the next time they just might aim better."

"Okay, I guess it's Caesar Salads." Angela gave in reluctantly and patiently waited in line without complaining any more. As they got closer to the grill she decided to get back at Brennan for the crack about the rats. "I think I'll have a nice big juicy cheeseburger with a ton of French Fries."

Brennan was a quick thinker and came back with "Ewww, watch out for the Rats tails. Sometimes they don't grind up as well as the bodies because they slip through the holes in the grinder." She smiled when she saw Angela and several other people turn slightly green.

"You're an evil person, you know that. You've been hanging around Jack and Booth too much." As Angela came up to the counter she ordered a Caesar salad.

Two hours later Booth came through the doors of the Medico-Lab. The first person he saw was Hodgins. "Hodgins, we have a new case and I think Brennan will need you to come along."

"Okay I'll get my things and join you over here in just a few minutes." Hodgins said as he ran over to his office to get his satchel that he kept well stocked with everything he would need to take samples.

Booth didn't see Brennan on the platform so he went to her office where he found her typing away at her computer. "Bones, we have a case, Chop-Chop."

Brennan closed her computer down and stood up. "Why do you say that to me all of the time when you know that I always get my things together as fast as I can?"

Booth just looked at her and pointing to himself with his thumbs said, "It's my thing, you know, you say things like 'I don't know what that means' and I say we have a case, Chop-Chop." He smiled at her as he helped her with her jacket.

"You know, you're a hopeless case. When are you going to grow up?" She said as she pulled her jacket on and smiled at him.

"Don't you know Bones that when a man has a son that he enjoys he delays the growing up process. A man gets to play like a kid again as his son gets into that age group that loves to be with his father. Because before you know it they're striking out on their own and they prefer the company of their friends. So please understand when sometimes I may allow my inner child to leak out and invade our adult lives."

"Okay, I guess I'll let it go then." Brennan grabbed her bag that was always stocked with the needed supplies. Booth took it from her shoulder and threw it over his own shoulder. He noticed that she didn't say anything when he did that. He gave her a big grin which signaled his approval.

"Where is the crime scene?" Brennan asked.

"About an hour's drive south of Washington, two bodies were found in the woods by Mechanicsville." Booth answered.

"Do you think we'll need Hodgins?" Brennan asked.

"Yeah, I saw him as I came in and told him that we had a new case and he needed to come with us. I promised that he would be in bug heaven."

Hodgins was waiting for them at the main doors to the Medico-Lab. They all climbed into Booth's SUV and he took off and headed for I-95 going south. It only took him 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there. The hardest part was finding the location. When they arrived they counted at least 6 police cars and one county coroner's car. Booth drove up to the first officer that seemed to be guiding cars in and keeping a few curious people beyond the yellow crime scene tape.

Booth pulled out his ID and said "FBI from Washington DC, we received a call from your Sheriff saying that they discovered two unidentifiable bodies."

"Pull over to the coroner's vehicle sir. The Sheriff in charge is over there." The officer answered.

"I hope they haven't touched them." Brennan said as Booth pulled over next to the coroner's vehicle. They all got out of the SUV and went over to the man that everyone seemed to be asking questions of. Booth was the first to speak.

"Sheriff Mathews?"

"Yes I'm Sheriff Mathews, and you are?"

"I am Special Agent Seeley Booth and this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian and her associate Dr. Jack Hodgins. We've been sent by FBI Headquarters in Washington DC to take over the bodies that we've been told you found this morning." The Sheriff shook everyone's hand then started walking over to where they presumed the bodies were found.

"I hope no one disturbed the bodies or their surroundings Sheriff Mathews." Brennan said. She noticed a lot of the people that had been standing around were following them and they were all men. She didn't want to think about it so she tried to keep her mind on the path in front of her.

"Except for the preliminary digging of the dirt around the bodies by the people that found them they haven't been touched. The two men that found them were going to go fishing in the river that is just over this hill. As they were walking through here they noticed a significant amount of worms on top of the dirt so they decided to pick up some bait right here. They didn't have any shovels to dig with so they just used their hands and some dried bark to try and go down further. That's when they found the skull."

Brennan kneeled down by the first skeleton and pulled out a small gardening shovel that would permit her to move small amounts of dirt without damaging the skeleton or any surrounding material. While she did this Hodgins was busy picking up some of the insects that were on top of the dirt and inserting them into plastic evidence bags along with some of the dirt.

Booth was talking to Sheriff Mathews while Brennan and Hodgins were busy. "Are the men that found the bodies still here?"

"Yes, they're over here by the officer and the two men that are by the fallen log." The sheriff answered as he walked over to the two men sitting on the log.

"Special Agent Booth, this is Mr. Tom White and his son Patrick White." The two men just nodded at Booth.

Booth reached out and shook the two men's offered hands. "Hi, Sheriff Mathews has told me that you found the bodies."

"Well I wouldn't really call them bodies since all there seems to be is skeletons." Mr. White said.

"Until Dr. Brennan uncovers the bodies completely I think it would be best to refer to them as bodies. After all they were living, breathing people at one time. Can you tell me the approximate time that you discovered the bodies?"

"We got here early at a little after 6:30 a.m. this morning. The sun was just coming up over the hills. As we were walking over to the river that's on the other side of the next hill we saw all of the worms wiggling around on top of this here dirt and we thought we would load up on some bait. We looked around for something to contain them in and found this here discarded coffee can and started to load up. We each found some fair size pieces of bark to use as shovels and carefully started pushing the dirt to the side to see if we could find a pocket full of them. When my son put his hand in the dirt to pick a bunch of them up we found the eye socket of the skeleton. Whoever buried these people didn't bother to go very deep because when my son stepped back we heard a crunching sound and that's why we think there are two skeletons there . I told Patrick to drop everything and back up. We picked up our stuff and I pulled out my cell phone and called the Sheriff right away."

"You did very good Mr. White. Don't go away yet because one of the people working on the grave may want to talk to you." Booth said after taking down all of the information from them.

He looked over towards where Brennan and Hodgens were and noticed there was a lot of people standing around them. He also noticed that they were all men. "Oh shit!" Booth said as he quickly walked back to the grave site.

TBC…


	17. Chapter 17

**Hi! I know I haven't posted a chapter in a long time but I have a good excuse. I moved from Georgia to New Mexico where I have more relatives and the weather is a lot drier. I have Chronic Bronchitis and I was having more trouble breathing during the summer when it was very humid in the southeast. I almost felt like I was . My brother and I drove to Colorado Springs first to see if we could find a place to rent up there, but needless to say, I had a hard time breathing up there because of the elevation. After 3 days I told him I couldn't take it and we had to go down to Albuquerque and lower elevation. When we arrived here we couldn't find a place to rent that was under $900 and in a decent neighborhood. After a month of searching, my relatives talked me into trying to buy a home instead of renting. That took another 2 months. Since I was a first time home buyer and on disability I was able to get a home with no down payment and using government funding as in HUD. Never in a million years would I have thought I would buy a home, but here I am. **

**It took me 3 months to get here. During all of this time we have been more or less homeless and living in a Motel 6. To say the least I am in debt to my eyeballs, but I now have a home that I have been in for the past 45 days and paying far less than $900 a month. It just goes to show you what keeping a good credit rating can do for you. **

**I just got my computer running after having lost all of the cords for it. I had to replace both the keyboard, monitor and mouse because of the heat they had to endure while being stuck in the back of my car. Fortunately I kept the hard drive well covered. **

**So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. **

New Story for Brennan Chapter 17

He looked over towards where Brennan and Hodgins were and noticed there were a lot of people standing around them. He also noticed that they were all men. "Oh shit!" Booth said as he quickly walked back to the grave site. He was afraid for her.

He pushed his way through the onlookers to get to the center and Brennan. As he pushed his way to the center he saw Hodgins looking at Brennan. Her back was to him so he couldn't see her face, but he could see her hand. She had a brush in her hand that she was using to brush the dirt off of the skeletons eye sockets. He could see how they were broken and were barely holding together. He also saw her hand brushing the dirt off but not from choice. Her hand was shaking so much that it was carrying out the task that she had initially intended to perform.

As Booth knelt down by Brennan and Hodgins he gently reached for her hand and whispered to her. "Bones, are you alright?"

She turned and looked at him. He could see the look of panic in her eyes. Tears were falling down her cheeks. "Help me!"

Booth gently helped her to stand up. The circle of men parted for them so they could pass. Booth didn't let go of her hand as they walked away and back to his SUV.

"I'll finish this Dr. Brennan." Hodgins said as though nothing was wrong.

Booth guided Brennan to the passenger side and helped her into the back seat where the windows were heavily tinted and you could barely see inside. After getting something from his bag in the back he got in and sat next to her. He opened the small bottle of whiskey that he kept for what he called emergencies.

"Here Bones, drink some of this." Her hands were shaking so much that he had to hold it for her. She took a deep drink and closed her eyes and waited for the alcohol to do its work. After a few minutes she was able to get control of herself. When her hands stopped shaking she took the bottle from him and took another drink.

Booth took the bottle from her. "Hold on Bones this is for medicinal purposes only."

Brennan looked at him. "I couldn't help it. As I uncovered more of the skeleton more people came over to see what we had found. As more and more of the men came over and encircled us I felt as though they were taking all of the oxygen out of the air and I couldn't breathe. I started to remember when Angela and I were in the back of the store and I was on the table. All of the gang members were standing around the table. They didn't need to hold me down because I was under the influence of the drug they had given me."

The more she talked the more her hands started to shake. Her voice started to go up in volume until he thought she might scream. All Booth could think of to do was hold her tightly in his arms. She started to cry and that made him feel even worse. He pulled his cell phone out and called Hodgins even though he was only a few feet away.

"Hodgins." Jack answered.

"Hodgins, this is Booth. Are you almost done gathering evidence?"

"Yeah, I have everything I can get by myself. How is she doing?"

"I need to take her back to DC." Booth answered. He was surprised when Brennan spoke up.

"I'm okay now. I can finish collecting the evidence. I just need for the sheriff to clear the people away." Brennan said as she sat up and wiped her tears away and blew her nose.

Booth looked at her carefully to see if she had calmed down enough. "Okay Hodgins, she wants to continue. Ask the sheriff to clear the area around the grave site so she can have some room."

Booth and Hodgins hung up. He could hear the sheriff assigning tasks to the men so the area would be cleared. He opened the door and looked to see if the men had dispersed enough. Brennan got out of the vehicle also and looked. She went to the back of the SUV and retrieved a body bag.

They didn't finish collecting everything that they could possibly find until 7 p.m. Brennan was able to complete her work without further incident. Both Booth and Hodgins made sure that the men didn't crowd Brennan again. On the ride back to the Jeffersonian Brennan was quiet. She made a call to Cam before they left the site and let her know that the body was being delivered to the Jeffersonian but Hodgins and her were going to be going home and wouldn't start processing everything until tomorrow morning.

While Brennan was busy calling Cam, Booth walked away from everyone so that he could call Sweets.

"Dr. Sweets." He stated when he picked up the phone at home.

"Sweets, this is Booth. Can you meet me at the Diner at 9 tonight? Something happened to Bones at a crime site that I have to talk to you about."

"Sure, I'll meet you there at 9."

Brennan was coming over to him so he hung up without saying anything more.

"Let's go, I already called Cam to let her know that we were going home and we would start processing the evidence tomorrow morning." Without saying anything else they all got into the SUV and went home to Brennan's apartment.

As he approached the apartment building Booth remembered that he had to meet Sweets at the Diner. He was tired but he wanted to speak to him or he wouldn't sleep very well tonight. Instead of pulling into the underground garage he pulled up to the front of the building.

"Aren't you going to stay with me tonight?" Brennan asked as he came to a stop.

"Yes, I will. I have to go to my office and do something then I'll be right back. It should only take me an hour or so." He saw the look on her face. She looked like she didn't believe him. "I promise that I will be back as soon as I can." He gave her a kiss on her cheek and gave her his best, what he hoped, was an innocent smile. Brennan got out and joined Hodgins.

"What was that all about?" Hodgins asked.

Brennan watched Booth drive away. "I don't know. I think he's up to something and he doesn't want me to know what he is doing."

TBC…..

**I know this one was shorter then what I usually post but it's been so long that I have to try and remember what my original thoughts were. I promise to post the next one by the end of this week. Thanks for sticking with me. **


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Special Agent Booth parked in front of the Diner that they all frequented. He could easily see Sweets sitting at Bones and his usual table. He walked in and went directly to what he thought of as their table. Except for greeting each other Sweets didn't say anything. From experience, Sweets knew that Booth would talk when he was ready.

A waitress came over and took his order for coffee and a slice of apple pie. Booth finally looked at Sweets. He began to tell him what happened at the crime scene. When he was done he just looked at Sweets and waited for him to say something.

"I think that the compartment that Dr. Brennan has pushed her memories of the rape into is getting ready to split at the seams. If we don't find a way for her to let those memories out and deal with them in some way she is going to break."

"What can we possibly do? I can't get her to talk to me about it for more than a few minutes and she refuses to talk to you or a specialist in rape." Booth said as he ran his hands over his face.

Sweets could see that Booth was starting to get frustrated with Dr. Brennan. "What about Angela? Have you spoken to her about this problem?"

The waitress brought over Booth's coffee and pie, left the check then left.

"That is kind of hard to do since her and Hodgins are still living with Bones."

"Call Dr. Hodgins and tell him that you need to talk to Angela without Dr. Brennan around. He can tell her that they are going to check on the progress of the work on the mansion in the morning. We can meet them there tomorrow morning."

"I hate keeping secrets from her but I know that we have to resolve this problem before she is completely lost to us. I need for you to call Cam and let her know what is happening so that she doesn't start asking too many questions in front of Bones. Thanks Sweets." Booth quickly ate his pie then got up and left after paying his bill.

Sweets made the call to Cam before he left the diner and let her know what they were going to be doing.

"I've noticed how Brennan starts getting nervous when too many people are around her, especially if it's mostly men." Cam said. She was quiet for a minute. "I hope we can all help her get over this, Sweets. I wouldn't want her to slowly be destroyed by this. Goodnight." Cam hung up and went to bed. Sweets went home also except he didn't go to sleep right away. His mind was busy working on how to help Dr. Brennan.

Booth quietly let himself into Brennan's apartment. He went into the bedroom that he now shared with Brennan. He opened the door as quietly as he could and looked in. The bed was empty so he stepped into the bedroom further. The door to the bathroom was closed and he could hear her vomiting over and over again. He knocked on the door when she finally seemed to be finished.

"Bones, are you alright?"

It took her a minute but she finally answered. "Yes, I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No, I'll be out in a few minutes."

Booth went out of the room and went to Jack's and Angela's room and knocked on the door lightly. Angela opened the door.

"Can you go to her Angela? I think she needs to talk to you about what happened this afternoon, because she won't talk to me." Angela could see the sadness in his eyes. She didn't say anything, she just pulled her robe around herself and walked over to Brennan's door and went in. Booth went in and sat down on the bed next to Jack.

"I don't know what to do Jack. She won't talk to me about what happened." He turned and looked at Jack.

"I didn't go to the office like I told her. While we were still at the crime scene I called Sweets and asked him to meet me at the diner at 9. I told him what had happened to Bones. He said that we have to do something to make her confront her rape, the beating that she took and the loss of our baby. He said that the box where she has compartmentalized into what happened is slowly getting to the point of bursting at the seams and I and everyone else that loves her would lose her forever."

"Has Sweets suggested anything?" Jack asked as he got up and pulled his robe on.

"He wants me, you and Angela to meet with him tomorrow morning at your home so that we can talk about it. He suggested that you tell Bones that you and Angela are going to check the progress of the work on your home and that you'll be in by 10 o'clock. Sweets and I will meet you there at 8 tomorrow morning." Angela came back into the bedroom after almost 30 minutes of being with Brennan. She sat down next to Booth.

"How is she doing now?" Booth asked.

"Better, we talked for awhile and she told me what happened at the crime scene today. I suggested that she go and see the special psychiatrist that Sweets had originally wanted her to see."

"What did she say?" Booth asked.

"She said that she would think about it and you know what that means."

"Yeah, most likely she won't go." Booth said. He got up and left to return to Brennan's room.

Both Jack and Angela got back into bed. "Booth told me that Sweets wants us to meet with Booth and him at the mansion tomorrow morning. Booth met with Sweets instead of going to FBI headquarters and told him about what happened at the crime scene today."

"What are we going to tell Cam?" Angela asked.

"Booth said that Sweets will talk to Cam. Let's go back to sleep, Booth will take care of Dr. Brennan now." Jack said as he lay down and pulled the covers over them.

It was 4:30 in the morning when Brennan woke up. She had only had a few hours of sleep. She lay next to Booth quietly. Usually having him in bed with her would help to sleep but for some reason she couldn't shut off her brain. It would constantly go over what happened yesterday. After 30 minutes she just got up, got dressed and snuck out of the apartment before anyone else could get up.

At 9 o'clock Sweets, Booth, Jack and Angela were at the Hodgins mansion. Hodgins and Angela got there first. Booth and Sweets came in at the same time and found them looking over some of the work.

"How's it looking?" Booth asked as they came up to them.

"Good, they are coming along pretty fast. The servants' quarters have already been completed and they are working on the master suite and kitchen now." Jack told them.

"Let's go somewhere where we can have some privacy." Sweets said.

Jack took them over to his office which was further away from the noise and the current renovation activities. Contrary to what Booth thought it would look like, it was nicely decorated with only one PC in it.

"I'm surprised it how it's decorated Jack. I thought your home office would be full of cages of bugs, and pictures of bugs." Booth said.

"No, I try to keep that kind of stuff at the Lab. Besides that, the first time Angela slept here she woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare where she thought there were bugs crawling all over her."

"You better believe it buddy. I told him I wouldn't be spending the night here again until he got rid of them or at least put them in another building. The next day he had everything taken to Zacks' old apartment over the garage. One night in dry dock and you guys will agree to anything." Angela said as she started to scratch her arm just thinking about it.

Everyone took seats around the office. "Have you come up with any ideas as to how we can get Dr. Brennan to open up to someone Booth?" Sweets asked.

"No, but we have to come up with something soon because she became very ill last night just thinking about it. When I woke up this morning she was already gone. I called the guard in the Lab and he said she came in at 6."

"Well I and my colleagues came up with an idea." Sweets said.

TBC…..

Ooohhhh #$%^&*! Don't you hate it when writers do that?


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Everyone took seats around the office. "Have you come up with any ideas as to how we can get Dr. Brennan to open up to someone Booth?" Sweets asked.

"No, but we have to come up with something soon because she became very ill last night just thinking about it. When I woke up this morning she was already gone. I called the guard in the Lab and he said she came in at 6."

"Well I and my colleagues came up with an idea." Sweets said.

Sweets statement got everyone's attention.

"Early this morning I called my colleague, Winston, at FBI headquarters. I told him about the problem that Dr. Brennan was having. He told me that he had a patient that was having the same problem. His patient was his own personnel secretary though. After talking to Winston I thought there must be more psychiatrists that might have patients with the same problem. There is a web page that lists all psychiatrists in the Washington D.C. area. I sent a letter to everyone on that list and explained the problem a patient of mine was having. I asked them to send me an E-Mail if they had a patient with the same problem. I just checked my E-Mail and I have already received 10 answers.

"What I want to do Agent Booth is to take all of these women, including Dr. Brennan, to the prison where Ortiz is being held. At the prison I want to give Dr. Brennan the chance to confront Ortiz, one on one. Do you think you could help me to arrange it?"

"You're hoping that when Brennan faces Ortiz that she will be forced to face her fears and her memories of the rape." Angela said.

"Yes, and we all know, with a few choice words from Agent Booth here, that Ortiz will make the first move and attack Dr. Brennan. My only concern is that Ortiz will not play his part since he knows that Dr. Brennan has beaten him once already." Dr. Sweets said.

They all looked at Booth to see what he would say.

"What are your thoughts on my suggestion Agent Booth?"

Booth leaned back in his chair and was quiet for a minute while he thought about what Sweets had said. "Okay I'll set it up with the warden where he is being held. I take it that you'll need a large room to accommodate all of the women?"

"Yes, plus all of my colleagues. As soon as I hear from everyone I'll let you know how many people we will have."

Booth stood up and looked straight at Sweets. "I hope this works Sweets. I'm going over to the prison now and talk to the warden. Call me as soon as you know how many we'll have." He walked out without looking back.

Jack looked at Angela and Sweets. "Do you get the feeling that he also wanted to add "OR ELSE"".

Both Sweets and Angela answered with an "Oh yes".

Everyone got up and left. As Jack and Angela went to their car Jack put his hand on Sweets shoulder. "Good luck Sweets. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now."

Booth went directly to the Washington DC Federal prison. They were holding Ortiz here because of his inclination to contact his gang members and put a hit out on Brennan or Angela. The local city or county jails didn't have the facilities to quarantine Ortiz in a padded room where he couldn't get out a message. Prisoners could be very inventive and no one wanted to give Ortiz even the remotest chance to get a message out.

Booth knocked on the Wardens door and received an invitation to enter. The Warden rose from his chair and greeted Booth with an outstretched hand. "Booth, long time no see. What brings you to these neck of the woods."

"Warden Sanchez, how have you been?"

"I think we've known each other long enough for you to call me Gene. How can I help you?"

"I am here to ask you a special favor and it concerns one of your special prisoners that is being held in quarantine. His name is Ortiz." Booth proceeded to explain what had happened to his partner and the difficulties she was having in getting over the rape.

"If we do this are you sure that she could beat him?" Warden Sanchez asked

"Yes I am 100 percent sure that she can do it. She may be afraid at first but once she sees him I am positive that she will take him without any problem."

In the next moment Booths cell phone rang. "Okay Sweets. I am with the Warden right now. I'll see you at Headquarters as soon as I get through here." Booth hung up without saying anything more.

"How many can we expect?"

"We can expect 12 women and an equal amount of psychiatrists."

"Okay we can accompany that number easily. When do you want to do this?"

"Let's shoot for this coming Friday." Booth said as he got up. "Thanks Gene, I owe you one."

"I am sure that the opportunity for repayment will come up." The warden said as Booth left.

As soon as Booth arrived at Headquarters he went straight to Hacker's office and explained everything that was going on with Brennan and the gathering they were going to have at the prison. He bypassed his immediate supervisor because of Hacker's previous relationship with Bones. He thought he would be more understanding of her problem and give an okay for all that Sweets and he had planned.

"Okay Booth, go ahead with your plans. Dr. Sweets has already spoken to his Supervisor and Bob has spoken to me about it. Bob gives his full approval of the plan. He agreed with me that Dr. Brennan was too valuable to lose."

Booth got up to leave. "Thank you Sir."

Hacker stood up and walked around his desk to stand by Booth thus letting him know that what he was about to say was man to man and not as his Superior. Hacker held out his hand to Booth. "I am glad you and Temperance finally got together. She chose the better man."

Booth shook his offered hand and said, "How did you know?"

"I don't know who found out but it went through the building like wildfire."

Booth just smiled back at Hacker. "You know that you didn't stand a chance?"

"Yes, I figured that out when the rumor finally hit me."

Booth left to go and see Sweets and make the final arrangements.

TBC…..


	20. Chapter 20

New Story for Brennan

Chapter 20

On Friday Booth walked into the Lab at 3 in the afternoon.

"Let's go Bones, we have a case." Booth said as he walked into the Lab.

"But Booth I just started looking at the bodies from the last time we were out. We haven't even been able to identify them yet."

Her comment stopped Booth in his tracks. 'Think fast Booth, if you don't say something now she is going to suspect something is up' he said to himself. He looked at Hodgins for help.

Hodgins came down by Booth. "I'm sorry Dr. Brennan I forgot to tell you that you got a call from the president of the Jeffersonian, Don Price. He wanted me to tell you that Booth was coming with a new case and we were to give it top priority over any existing cases." Hodgins said.

Brennan looked at the two men and thought about it for a moment. It just wasn't like Hodgins to forget something that important. 'Something isn't adding up here.' She thought to herself but she decided to go along with them anyway. She put down the bone that she was looking at and told her current intern to continue checking the bones for cause of death.

"Okay Booth I'll be with you in a second." She quickly went into her office grabbed her coat and purse and joined Booth. Without her knowing, as soon as she left Cam, Jack and Angela jumped into their own cars and headed for the Washington Federal Prison.

The bus load of Psychiatrists and their patients, that were having the same kind of problem as Brennan were already at the prison and in the prison guards own gymnasium.

All of the exercise equipment had been pushed to the side and covered with a heavy canvas so that nothing could be used by "anyone".

It took Booth only 30 minutes to get to the prison. As they approached the prison entrance gates, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brennan sit up straight and look at him.

"Is the victim here at the prison?"

"Yes and it's going to be messy so I brought an older pair of pants for you and one of my T-shirts." Booth said.

"Why did you do that? I have my work clothes that I always use."

"Uh, you don't remember, because you were asleep but the last time you used them I… don't get mad at me now… but I tried to wash them for you and they kind of melted in the dryer."

Booth could see Brennan visibly relax. "That's okay Booth I knew, the first day I saw them, that this could possibly happen since they didn't have any washing instructions on them. The Jeffersonian sends them to a special cleaner that is experienced in handling special material." She said with her hand over her mouth in an attempt to hide her smile.

All of the guards had been informed about the match so they were let through with no problem. When Booth parked the SUV both Brennan and Booth went to the back and pulled out her equipment that she usually used to examine the remains of the victim.

As they went through the entrance the warden approached them. "Hi Gene, this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan. Bones this is Warden Sanchez." Booth stepped to the side so that the warden and Bones could greet each other.

"If you'll follow me I'll take you the gym." The warden proceeded to take them through several locked heavily guarded gates and doors after giving Brennan time to change.

As the warden escorted them to the gym Cam, Jack and Angela were able to get into the gym before Booth and Brennan entered. Booth had given them more time to get there by going the long way around to the gym. Normally they would have gone through the back entrance which was the shortest distance.

The warden entered the door to the gym first then stepped aside and waved them in. Brennan stepped in after Booth. Right away she looked around the gym for the victim. She looked at Booth questioningly then at the warden.

"Where is the body? You haven't moved it have you?"

Booth looked at her and reached for the case that Brennan was holding and gently took it from her hand without saying anything.

The warden spoke instead. "Dr. Brennan, the victim is indeed here. We already have the accused perpetrator in custody." On the other side of the gym they heard a door open. A guard entered first followed by the sound of the clinking of chains as what appeared to be a prisoner was led in.

Brennan stared at the man that was led in. She heard a noise at the top of the walls of the gym. For the first time she looked up and noticed what appeared to be a second story at the top of the walls of the gym. She looked back at Ortiz, the man they had brought in under heavy guard and chained so that he could only walk with a shuffling walk.

"What is going on here Booth? Why did you bring me here?"

Booth could see the look in her eyes. He saw something that he knew was not a part of Brennan's natural makeup.

Up on the guard walk Angela saw the look also. She made her way down to Brennan. Sweets followed her. They came to a stop though when they saw Booth grab Brennan by her arms and turn her towards him.

"I told Sweets what happened to you last week when we investigated and retrieved the bodies of the two victims that are now at the Jeffersonian." Brennan's eyes were as wide as saucers and she was constantly looking at the door.

Booth shook her slightly. "Bones, look at me." He waited for her to look at him and only at him. She slowly turned back to him and concentrated on his face. She didn't let her gaze wander to her left or to her right.

"Okay, now that I have your attention I want you to listen to me. You can't go on like this and remain my partner in the field. I know you like I know the back of my hand and this is not who you are. You are one of the bravest women that I know. You have a brown belt in karate and you're the woman that put down Ortiz when he dared to put a hand on you at FBI headquarters. One on one you can take on any man, even me. Ortiz needed his gang to help him kidnap and rape you. Don't forget that it took several men to hold onto you. Now where is my Bones? Where is Dr. Temperance Brennan, the most intelligent woman that I know and the only person that I know of that can think more logically then Mr. Spock?"

Booth could see her relax. She took a deep breath. "Why are we here Booth?"

He leaned forward and whispered into her ear. "We are here so that you can kick Ortiz's ass." Booth stepped back and looked at her. He found what he wanted, a big grin that slowly widened her lips until they were stretched thin in the biggest grin that he had ever seen on her face.

Sweets stepped forward and to Brennan's side. "Look up to the second floor above the walls of the gym Dr. Brennan." She pulled her eyes away from Booth and looked up. She didn't know why she hadn't seen them before. Behind the rails she could see 12 women and she wasn't sure but she thought she saw 12 men standing slightly behind the women also.

"Who are they and why are they here?" Brennan asked as she looked down and acknowledged Angela and Jack also with a nod of her head.

"They are 12 patients along with their Psychiatrists. They are here to see you confront your attacker, your rapist, the murderer of yours and Booth's unborn child. Like you, these women were raped and unnecessarily beaten, almost to the point of death for several of them. It is important that you confront Ortiz Dr. Brennan, if you don't you will continue to let this man control you."

To everyone's surprise, when she looked up, they saw tears coming down her face. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand and looked over at Ortiz. She saw that the guards had removed his chains and backed away. When she looked at his face she saw a smirk on his face.

When Ortiz saw Dr. Brennans tears shinning in the light his smile grew even more. That's when he made a big mistake. He winked at her and grabbed his penis and testicles through his pants.

She looked back at Booth. "Why did he do that?"

"He wants to know if you've come back for more of him." After he said that he saw his partner come back to life. Her eyes were no longer as big as saucers but calm and she had her usual look when she was in full command of her surroundings. Angela moved over to stand by Booth.

She whispered to him "That's the same look she always has when she is analyzing the suitability of a new intern."

"You mean like when she is deciding to eat them or let them go unscathed?" Booth said with a slight smile that he did his best to hide.

"Exactly." Angela said then backed up to stand by her husband.

Brennan walked to the middle of the gym and just stared at Ortiz. Ortiz started to get uneasy. He started to lean on one side then the other and at the same time trying to put on an air of superiority. He was failing miserably.

Booth took a step closer. "She's waiting for you to give her another lesson in how a woman should act and keep her mouth shut until spoken to." They all waited for Ortiz to make a move. He stood as still as a statue.

"No one will intervene Ortiz. This is between you and Dr. Brennan. If you are able to overtake her then you will be considered the winner. No one will take revenge."

Still yet Ortiz didn't move. Booth tried to think of what he could say in order to get a reaction out of him.

From behind he heard Bones say something for the first time since he started talking to Ortiz.

"Come on Ortiz I want to see if you are as good as you say you are. You see I need for you to take me again because I couldn't feel you. I reasoned that it was because I had just had intercourse that morning and I was stretched further then you could fill." They all could see that Dr. Brennan's words were having the affect that Booth's couldn't. Ortiz's face was starting to turn red from his temper taking over his thought processes.

"Just a little more Bones." Booth said in a low voice.

Brennan heard him so she took that finale step. "I'm waiting Ortiz or would you like several of the guards to hold me, just in case."

It was quite for only a few seconds more, Ortiz launched himself at Brennan without warning. She was ready for him though and easily stepped aside. For a man of his build Booth was surprised at how quickly Ortiz recovered. In comparison to Brennan though he was slow because while Ortiz was repositioning himself Bones spun around and hit him with her heavy boot right on the side of his face. She hit him so hard that he spun around but didn't fall so she hit him again by throwing herself at him feet first. Her aim was true and her boots landed in his solar plexus. Brennan could hear the women on the second floor cheering her on and applauding while Ortiz was holding onto his stomach and trying to get up.

After a minute or two he was finally able to get to his feet. When she saw him having a hard time her mind went back to a similar situation in one of her books. She went over to his side and pretended to want to help him. She reached for his arm, "Here, let me help you." Ortiz did exactly as she thought he would and grabbed her around her neck and turned her around so that she was pressed against his chest. Brennan elbowed him in his stomach as hard as she could. As Ortiz buckled over Brennan grabbed his arm and flipped him over and onto his back. While he was down she did something that Booth didn't expect, she began to kick him between his legs over and over again. Ortiz screamed in pain and tried to protect what was left of his manhood.

"Bones stop I think that's enough." Booth yelled at her in an attempt to get through her current state.

The women on the 2nd floor cheered her on. "Don't stop, don't stop, kick him again until they pop out."

Booth's words didn't stop her but hearing the women cheering her on did. She stared at Ortiz on the floor and sanity slowly returned to her eyes. Temperance Brennan realized, for the first time in her adult life, she had lost control of her thoughts and actions. She covered her face with her hands she didn't want anyone to see it. Because if they did she knew they would see how surprised and ashamed she was of her own actions. After a few minutes she lowered her hands and looked at Ortiz.

"Who is the better person now Ortiz. Once again I proved myself to be the better fighter and I didn't even need anyone to hold your arms and neck." She looked up at the guards. "I think you better take him to the infirmary now."

Two of the guards pulled Ortiz up but he couldn't stand yet so they dragged him to the infirmary.

Booth came to stand by her side. "Are you alright?"

She slowly turned to him. "Yes I think I'll be alright now. If you don't mind Booth I think I would like to go back with Sweets and the rest of the women."

Booth looked at her and said "I understand Bones. I'll be waiting for you at your apartment." He gave her a kiss on her cheek then turned and left. He looked towards Jack and saw Angela leave his side and join Bones.

TBC…..


	21. Chapter 21

New story for Brennan 21

"Okay Dr. Sweets how were you and Booth able to accomplish this? I know that normally it would be illegal and people would have ended up losing their jobs. So what I am thinking is that Booth went to Warden Sanchez and called in a favor. Yes or no?" Brennan asked after everyone had returned to the FBI building and settled in, in one of the conference rooms.

"Yes you're correct Booth did call in one of his markers. Of course everyone involved had to be informed and they had to agree to everything. Fortunately or should I say unfortunately the warden found enough guards that knew a woman that had been raped and beaten. Of course Ortiz will want to be quiet about it because he won't want anyone to know that a woman beat him without any male assistance."

One of the other women raised her hand and cleared her throat when no one else spoke up. Since Dr. Sweets was the organizer of this event he acknowledged the woman's request to speak.

"Yes Ms. Price."

"Dr. Sweets explained to everyone what happened to you. We understand that you were outnumbered by the men in the gang that raped and beat you. Our Doctors and the police have told us that there is no way that you could have possibly won against all of those men. The rest of us have talked about it already and we have two question to ask you." Ms. Price hesitated.

"Go ahead Ms. Price." Sweets encouraged her to continue.

"We would just like to know how it felt to beat the bastard and where can we go to learn to fight like you did?"

Brennan started laughing so hard that it took her a few minutes to catch her breath.

"It felt good but I did find out something about myself after I beat him at his own game. When Special Agent Booth told me to stop I didn't. His voice just didn't register in my brain because my mind was so wrapped up in getting back at Ortiz for all that he had done to me. When I was finally able to start calming down and get control of myself I was able to hear the rest of you women. It suddenly occurred to me, as I looked up at all of you, I had lost control of my actions for the first time in my life."

They were all surprised to see Dr. Brennan go from laughing to crying. First one tear slowly found its way down her cheek then another and another. Angela had been sitting next to her so she reached over and put her arm around Brennan's shoulders.

"Why are you crying Dr. Brennan?" Sweets asked.

It took her awhile, but when she was finally able to look up without any tears she looked at Sweets. "I lost control of my actions and I've never done that before."

"Yes you have Dr. Brennan and although I wasn't there when it happened I know, without a doubt that it did happen." Dr. Sweets said.

"Dr. Sweets I have never lost control of my actions or for that matter my thoughts." Dr. Brennan said as she sat up straight and raised her voice.

"What about the first time you had sex? How old were you when you had sex for the first time." Sweets asked.

"That is none of your business and besides I knew exactly what I was doing and I had control of the whole situation." Brennan answered with a frown.

Sweets sat back in his chair and crossed his arms then raised his left hand to the side of his cheek and just stared at Dr. Brennan. The longer he stared at her the more she refused to look at him.

She broke. "Okay, your right I did lose control of that first time." She looked at Sweets and became even angrier with him when she saw the big smile on his face. "Booth must have told you because I know that I never did."

Sweets didn't say anything. He just continued to smile and finally shrugged his shoulders and leaned forward once again. "It's alright Dr. Brennan everyone loses control at that time. No matter how much we think about that first time and what we are going to do we always lose control and those pheromones and hormones take over and our brains fall out."

"I know that mine fell out and I could swear I could hear something fall on the floor." Angela said as she laughed at the memory. Everyone else started laughing also, all except for one woman. When everyone stopped laughing they heard a small, timid voice speak up.

"I've never had sex, that I chose that is, so I don't know what you are talking about." Everyone looked at the woman that was introduced as Pamela Coats. When she saw everyone looking at her she added "It was a choice. I haven't met the man that I want to live the rest of my life with yet." They saw her psychiatrist put his hand on her shoulder. They knew that he was explaining things to her.

Sweets lost his smile and continued. "You also think you lost control of the situation when Mr. Nigel died also."

Dr. Brennan and Angela were quiet when Sweets brought back the memory of Mr. Nigel and the day he died. "That wasn't her fault though." Angela spoke up for her friend.

"No it wasn't but Dr. Brennan believes it is because she didn't have better control of her environment. She believes that she should have been in Mr. Nigel's place. She believes that she should have answered Booth's phone."

Everyone was quiet. Brennan never looked up at Sweets or Angela. When Angela saw that Brennan wasn't acknowledging what Sweets had said she knew that he was right. She quickly reached over to Brennan and grabbed her shoulders.

"That wasn't your fault Sweetie. You could not have prevented Mr. Nigel's death any more than you could prevent the sun from coming up in the morning. Believe it or not Temperance but you cannot control the world and what happens in it every moment of every day. What happened to us and all of these other women in here was not our fault. For once in your life, since you met Booth, you took someone else's advice and did what you could to keep us safe." Angela stood up and looked at all of the women in the group and said, "All we can do is like Dr. Brennan has, learn how to protect ourselves with some kind of martial arts so that when it is a one on one then we will know that we have done all we can do to win. Ladies we have got to stop letting these rapists continue to control us because as long as we think about what happened to us we will be giving them what they want." Angela sat back down and put her arm around her friend again.

After a few minutes of silence Brennan stood up and looked at Sweets. "I think I would like to go home now and think about what you said. I believe though that you and Angela are correct. Do you think that you could take me home now or do you want to stay here a little longer in which case I will call a taxi."

Sweets stood up and gathered his things. "I'll be happy to take you home Dr. Brennan. Do you want to go also Angela?" In answer Angela grabbed her purse and stood up to follow them out the door.

Thirty minutes later Brennan and Angela were at her apartment door and unlocking the door. Brennan could hear Booth coming to the door and pulled it open before she could do so herself. He looked at her and saw that her eyes were red from crying. Brennan didn't make a move toward him so he backed up and let the two women come in then closed the door.

Brennan walked to her bedroom and closed the door while Angela put her purse on the couch and went for a drink at the cabinet that held all of the alcohol and poured herself a glass of Royal Crown. She went to the couch and sat down by Jack who had just come in. Booth came over to her and sat on the coffee table across from her.

"How did it go?"

Angela took a drink before answering Booth. "I think that it went pretty good. I didn't know it but apparently Sweets did, that Brennan has been blaming herself for the death of Nigel. According to Sweets Brennan always tries to control her environment and feels she lost control when Nigel died and when we were kidnapped and raped. Of course I know how silly that is so I told her and the rest of the women that all we can do is learn how to defend ourselves and stop letting these miscreants control us by blaming ourselves for what happened to us. Go to her Booth, I think she'll be more receptive to whatever you have to say to her now."

Booth picked up Angela's hand and kissed it. "Thank you Angela. If Sweets doesn't watch out you're going to put him out of a job." Angela smiled at him and Booth went to Brennan's bedroom door and knocked lightly.

"Come in Booth." Brennan answered.

Booth opened the door and closed it quietly behind him. He found Brennan sitting in front of her window and just looking out.

"How did you know it was me? It could have been Angela."

Brennan just turned and looked at him with a big smile. "Who else could it possibly be?" Without warning and to Booths total surprise Brennan got up and went to him and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly on the lips. When she stood back she held him at arm's length and said "thank you Booth."

"For what?" Booth said.

"For being patient with me, for giving me the time to heal, for loving me even after so many men had their turn at me. I know that it is illogical to think this but women, after being raped, are always afraid of their husbands or boyfriends rejecting them and blaming them for what happened."

Without hesitation Booth picked Brennan up and into his arms and put her on the bed while doing this he never stopped kissing her. "Does this prove to you what I think of you?" This was the first time that he had even touched her in this manner since she was raped. He went slowly at first to make sure that she was ready also but his concerns were quickly dismissed as she responded in kind.

When they were done with their love making they lay on the bed. Brennan was sleeping a deep uneventful sleep. For the first time in a long time she didn't have any nightmares. Booth put his arm under her neck and pulled her closer to him and kissed her on her forehead. As he watched her sleeping he knew that she would never allow him to protect her like he wanted so for now this would have to do.

**THE END**


End file.
